Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties has announced that Jorge Hernandez-Perez, an 18-year-old senior in the IB Program at Riverview High School, was named the 2021 Southeast Youth of the Year.

Jorge joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties in 2018. One of his first projects with the club was in its Students Taking Active Roles (STAR) leadership training program, where he served as outreach coordinator for a community-wide service project that benefited Habitat for Humanity Sarasota and SRQ Vets. Other highlights of Jorge's experience with the Boys & Girls Clubs include securing an internship with the legislative office of former state Rep. Margaret Good as head political intern; running an advocacy campaign for culturally responsive education in schools with the club's Youth Council as outreach chair; serving as Marker Subcommittee secretary and voting member of the Sarasota County Government Historical Commission as a STAR Leadership Training Program graduate; and fighting for club members' voices to be heard through the Florida Atlantic University's Student Voices as the representative for the Florida Alliance.

After high school graduation, Jorge will study political science and environmental sustainability at Columbia University. He will advance to the National Youth of the Year celebration in September and compete for the national title against five other youth leaders representing the Pacific, Southwest, Northeast, and Midwest regions, as well as the National Military Youth of the Year.