Elgin High student awarded top honor from Boys & Girls Club

Issac Reyna, once a loud and reckless middle schooler, will be the first in his family to graduate high school and wants to eventually earn a doctoral degree.

The 18-year-old who attends Elgin High School credits the Boys & Girls Club of Elgin - which named him Youth of the Year Thursday - with appreciating education and giving him the confidence to dream big.

"The club helped me by saying, 'You know what? Don't let them bring you down. Don't prove them right. Whoever talks about you or anything you feel, you're able to overcome it,' " Reyna said. "If I needed anything, if I was struggling, they were there. Still, to this day, they're my support group."

A club member since first grade, Reyna is also active in school plays and with the youth group at St. Mary's Church in Elgin. He has volunteered for the Woodfield Area Children's Organization, or W.A.C.O., helping needy preschoolers do Christmas shopping.

Boys & Girls Club of Elgin area director Jennifer Koch said Reyna - always responsible about doing his own homework - stands out for his desire to help younger kids.

"Issac always walks into the club with a smile on his face," she said. "He's always making sure the younger kids (are helped) if they have questions, if they need help with their homework. He's always making sure everybody around him is having a good time."

Reyna credits his grandmother and aunt, who raised him and a younger sister, with teaching him to be himself and do what makes him happy.

"I grew up in a house full of girls so you can say they taught me how to be a gentleman, but I don't want to say it because it sounds really cocky," he said.

He is considering joining the Army National Guard before going to college, and might study international marketing or a similar field at Elgin Community College with the goal of transferring to Northern Illinois University, he said.

"I would like to travel the world," he said. "I love to interact with people. I love to meet new people."

Also considered for the award were Briauna Brown, a seventh-grader at Larsen Middle School, Trevon Flowers, a senior at Larkin High School, Esperanza Golden-Garcia, an eighth-grader at Abbott Middle School, Damarian Benton, an eighth-grader at Ellis Middle School, and Gloria Mora, an eighth-grader at Kimball Middle School.