Youth of the Year finalist: Elijah Adams

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - This week the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Chattahoochee Valley will name their “Youth of the Year”.

Its a coveted title with five young people in the finals to win. Tonight you meet Elijah Adams.

A Carver High senior who credits the Boys and Girls Clubs with getting him on the right track.

“The Boys and Girls Clubs meant a lot to me,” said Adams. “I mean since I was young I was the bad child... like doing bad things in the neighborhood. When I came to Boys and Girls Club and I got involved in sports...playing football basketball and it took me out of trouble - made me more responsible. Once I became responsible it my grades became better.”

And that’s just the beginning for Carver High School senior Elijah Adams, after his grades got better he says his teachers starting giving him more responsibility and he started believing in himself more, realizing actions had consequences, and its all thanks to the Boys and Girls Clubs.

“You have to own up to everything you do and be responsible,” said Adams. “So if they don’t believe in you, you ain’t gonna believe in yourself...so they motivated me to keep on pushing.”

And Elijah is still pushing a torn ACL forced him off the Carver basketball team during this his senior year, but that hasn’t stopped him from mentoring others in the sport. He coaches the boys basketball team at the club as well as the girl’s flag football team and he says sports will definitely be a part of his future.

“What I want to do after college is to go into sports management and become an athletic director and start my own business from the ground and help my mama smile,” said Elijah.

What makes Elijah smile is the thought of becoming the next Boys and Girls Clubs Youth of the Year.

He says his message to other young people is its ok to ask for help because sometime “you can’t do it alone”!

“If you don’t work with somebody, I guarantee you’re not gonna make it. It’s always someone who knows more than what you know - so if you work with somebody you’ll know more than another person would. Once you learn how to work with someone, you most likely will be successful... so just be ready to work with somebody.”

Copyright 2023 WTVM. All rights reserved.