USC Annenberg student named National Youth of the Year by Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Growing up in a struggling community with limited family resources, Jocelyn Woods found stability at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley. The organization would become a home away from home, sheltering her on a journey from the Bay Area to USC.

“I didn’t always have a stable background, but all of the staff and mentors have always been there for me when I didn’t have family members to do the same,” said Woods, a first-year student at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “Knowing that all the people loved and supported me was reassuring.”

Woods was recently named National Youth of the Year by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The honor recognizes members who have demonstrated outstanding leadership skills and dedication to community service and academic excellence. Woods will receive $145,000 in academic scholarships, a trip to Walt Disney World and a new car.

A club member since the age of 5, Woods took advantage of the resources the organization offered, including programs that exposed her to technology and writing.

“[The club] gave me opportunities that I otherwise would not have had,” Woods said. “When I was 10, I was first introduced to code.”

The experience gave Woods the confidence to pursue a field she describes as unpopular among people who “look like me or come from the same background as I did.”

Woods has brought that passion and confidence to USC Annenberg, where she plans to study how journalism intersects with technology. She chose to attend USC because it already “felt like family” when she first visited the campus.

After wrapping up her first semester, Woods looks forward to future educational opportunities at USC Annenberg.

I’m trying to fully immerse myself in all the opportunities I have here.

Jocelyn Woods

“I’m trying to fully immerse myself in all the opportunities I have here,” she said. “There’s so much, but it’s a good problem to have.”

Woods hopes that her story can inspire other club members to achieve.

“The clubs are predominantly in areas of lower income,” she said, adding that members should remember that “the environment you grow up in isn’t always the place that you stay.”