Student wins top honor from Boys & Girls Clubs of America
A CSU freshman from Denver recently won the Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Youth of the Year award in honor of outstanding leadership, service, academic excellence, and dedication to living a healthy lifestyle. In the process, he exemplified the purpose of a key University partnership.
Malachi Haynes, 18, accepted the award at a celebration in Washington, D.C., cheered by supporters including actor Denzel Washington, the organization’s national spokesman.
Haynes rose to the national stage after earning state and regional honors and will receive as much as $100,000 in scholarship support for the national award. He is majoring in health and exercise science on the Fort Collins campus.
“Malachi is truly a role model who has transformed adversity in his own life into a passion for serving and inspiring others,” CSU President Tony Frank said.
Colorado State University and Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Denver maintain an official partnership designed to encourage and support students like Haynes. The partnership, based on shared missions of educational access and opportunity, provides annual trips to campus for dozens of high schoolers and offers scholarships for students from the Denver and Larimer County clubs.
“CSU is a proud partner with the Boys & Girls Club because of the opportunities they create for young people to discover and cultivate the best in themselves and then to give back to others,” Frank said. “Malachi embodies that spirit and the CSU mission of service and lifelong learning. We are so pleased to see him recognized for all he has achieved.”
