Elgin club's youth of the year got 'endless amount of support'

Life forced Damaryan Benton to grow up quickly after his father was gunned down in the streets of Chicago when Damaryan was 11 and his grandmother died a year later.

Damaryan, 17, a senior at Elgin High School, said he did his best to help his mother, who mostly had seasonal jobs and at times struggled to provide clothes and food. He started working at age 15 and sometimes held two jobs at a time, he said.

Through the years, the Boys & Girls Club of Elgin was a steadying force, providing him with material and emotional support and allowing him to feel like a kid, Damaryan said.

The club provided him with clothes, shoes and meals and got him free braces in middle school through a sponsoring dental office. It introduced him to new experiences like Six Flags Great America and opened his eyes to future possibilities with programs that connected him to business professionals, he said.

"There are so many things they did to help me," Damaryan said. "They gave me opportunities and endless amounts of support."

The Boys & Girls Club of Elgin, in turn, recognized Damaryan as its "Youth of the Year" last month for his commitment to attending the club for the past 11 years and his desire to help his peers, especially younger ones. Damaryan will compete for the statewide title April 9 and 10 in Springfield.

"He exemplifies a lot of the character traits that we try to instill into the youth," said Deborah Ficken, director of program services for the Elgin club. "He was very actively involved in leadership activities through the club and the regional programming we have done. He has always been willing to be an advocate of the club to members of the community."

"He's also very kind," Ficken said. "He will always make time to welcome new people to the club and listen to them."

Damaryan credits the club for introducing him to acting and public speaking. He is a member of his school's speech and debate team and was an Illinois High School Association state finalist two years in a row. He's also on the cheerleading and volleyball teams, did a student-volunteer internship for Elgin Area School District U-46 and helped run the first fair featuring historically black colleges and universities at Elgin Community College.

Damaryan, who works at Panera Bread in Elgin, plans to go to college - he got one scholarship offer and is in talks for more - and double-major in business administration and communications. He might work in nonprofit administration "to impact kids that have gone through my situation," he said.

The youth of the year selection is made by a panel of judges including community and club board members. The other finalists were: Abigail Dunn of Abbott Middle School and Eiyalin Tomassini of Ellis Middle School, both seventh-graders; Nathan Aquino of Larsen Middle School and Tanya Garcia-Robles of Kimball Middle School, both eighth-graders; Geovanny Lara and Logan Cox, both freshmen at Larkin High School; Jacqueline Perez, a sophomore at Larkin High School; and Gloria Mora, a senior at Elgin High School.