Life

Citlally Diaz Mar, a top student and active club leader at North Henderson High School, has been named the Henderson County Boys and Girls Club Youth of the Year, the Fazio Family Boys & Girls Club announced.

An academic leader with a 4.1 GPA and an AP Scholar, Citlally is also heavily involved in extracurricular activity, serving as Keystone President, Torch Club Vice President, LEAD Ambassador and Land of Sky P20 Student Ambassador and Advisor. On Monday at Kenmure Country Club, Youth of the Year finalists Melody Mitchem of East Henderson High School, Joseph Franklin of Blue Ridge Community College, Crystal Atkins of the Henderson County Early College, Citlally Diaz Mar of North Henderson High School and Luna Trejo-Lugo of North Henderson High School demonstrated their dedication to community service, academic excellence and family contributions.

All five candidates were interviewed by an esteemed panel of judges, including Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk, Hendersonville Police Department SRO and former BGCHC Youth of the Year Joreeca Dinnall, former BGCHC board member and current School Board member Blair Craven and local business leader and longtime Boys and Girls Club board member Randy Hunter. Following the interviews, the candidates delivered heartfelt speeches to an audience of 150 donors, community leaders, family members and current and former club staffers.

Citlally spoke passionately about issues such as immigration and the challenges she and her family faced as Hispanic immigrants themselves and expressed gratitude for the relationships she developed as a Boys and Girls Club member, such as her mentor, Tae Brown. She spoke about how he would bring coffee on Dress for Success Days and even nominated Citlally as “Miss Positivity” during one of her toughest summers. He taught her how to redirect her anger regarding discrimination into steps for action and encouraged her to follow her passions regardless of society’s words.

Citlally plans to continue her academic career at UNC at Chapel Hill and pursue a business and international relations degree. She aspires to become a lawyer specializing in immigration reform and education policy to foster cultural awareness and create inclusive and sustainable solutions for communities of all backgrounds. She will represent the club at the state competition in Raleigh on March 14 with the potential to advance to the national level competition.