Eva Jernigan Southeast Youth of the Year for Boys & Girls Club

That's why I want to show you that being Youth of the Year is such an honor. I would like to invite all of you to join me for the FIFA World Cup Final Game, July 17th and 19th. New York City! I'm Alex in New York! I left out the most important part, that you all will be joining me, as Greg said, a billion people plus will be watching, and you all will be on the field with me, walking with me, as Coca-Cola's flag bearer for the World Cup Final Match on July 19th. What an amazing honor, and I can't wait to see you there next month. What a surprise! That's Boys and Girls Club alum Alex Rodriguez sharing the news with the Youth of the Year finalists that they are going to the World Cup Finals. You heard him there. And they're going to take the pitch with him and some of the best players in the world. So one of those finalists that we're talking about is Eva Jernigan, Boys and Girls Clubs of America's 2025-26 Southeast Youth of the Year, and she's here today to share more about this whole experience. So, Eva, oh my gosh! Wow! I'm so excited. Such a crazy surprise. Congratulations on all this. Thank you so much. This is amazing. So, for those that aren't super familiar with the Youth of the Year program, this is a really big deal. There is no higher honor when it comes to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. So you are representing Georgia, am I right? Yes. And the Southeast region? Yes, you're right. Wow! Congratulations on that. Thank you so much. Yeah. So this has to be like the icing and the cherry on top of everything, getting to go to the World Cup Finals, getting to be on the field. Absolutely. Are you kidding? It's so crazy, and we're all just so excited, so grateful for Boys and Girls Club of America and Coca-Cola especially for giving us this opportunity. Wow. Okay, so you've processed everything at this point. You've had time since we just saw that reaction video. How are you feeling ahead of all this? I mean, he mentioned, you know, there's going to be a billion people watching the finals of the World Cup. Yes. It's so crazy. The largest sporting event of the year, like the four years that it happens, and so we're all just so excited, so grateful, ecstatic, going into it with open minds, not really knowing what to expect, but we know we're going to have a fun time. Yes. It doesn't even matter who makes it to the finals, but let me ask you this. I know Team USA was knocked out last night. Are there two teams that you're hoping to see in the finals, or are you like, I don't even care who makes it to the end? Okay. Honestly, I'm not that big of a soccer fan, but I was telling Ross I've been getting into it now that the World Cup's here. I'm rooting for France. There you go. For sure. I love Mbappe, Paris Saint-Germain, so I hope he makes it, and maybe we get to meet him. Right? Maybe rub shoulders on the fans? That would be awesome. It really, really would, so very excited for you, but we were talking behind the scenes. You've got a really, really big next two weeks coming up, or next week coming up. Tell us about that. Next Sunday, me and the other finalists from last year, we're going to SAY, which is Summit for America's Youth in Washington, D.C., where we get to advocate for the change that we're making in our communities on Capitol Hill with our state legislators, so we're so excited for that. Then after that, we go to the World Cup Final in New York City, have a fun weekend there, and then we go to the National Keystone Conference in Orlando, where we get to meet with other teens who are making a difference in our communities, and we get to serve as role models and meet them. Gosh. Okay, guys, to put this into perspective, these are like three of the biggest things that you can possibly be involved with with Boys & Girls Club, and you're about to knock all of those things out in the span of like a week, which is really, really incredible, but tell me about your involvement in the Boys & Girls Club, because you didn't make it as far as you have without the backbone and just your background in Boys & Girls Club, so tell us how long you've been a member and a little bit of your story. So I started going to the Boys & Girls Club the summer before I started middle school, and I didn't want to go at all. It's in the neighboring town, so kids that I go to school with didn't go, and I was so nervous. I begged my mom not to make me go. She sent me anyway, and it was the best summer of my life. I had so much fun. I met lifelong friends, and I met lifelong mentors that poured into me, loved me, and embraced me, and I kept going back every single summer, and the summer before in my junior year, I got an extra push from one of my favorite staff members, Ms. Kim, and she encouraged me to start a business, Stellar Start Tutoring, and I became a successful teenage entrepreneur at 16, and to this day, I've helped over 100 children feel confident in their academics, but also just in themselves and who they are. That's incredible. Thank you. Absolutely incredible. So tell us where you are in school now and maybe what plans for the future include. So right now, I'm a rising sophomore at Spelman College. I'm a biochemistry major. I'm in the honors program with hopes of becoming an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. Oh my gosh, amazing, amazing. I know we're going to see you continue to soar. So we're out of time, but anything you want to leave us with when it comes to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the difference that the organization's made in your life? I'm just so grateful to be here, so grateful for the opportunities, and it's just such an amazing honor to be able to represent the Southeast Georgia and my local club and show America why we need club kids. Very nice. I think it's pretty easy to see how Eva has made it as far as she has in this whole journey, but we're going to be cheering you on. Like you mentioned, you're representing Georgia, you're representing the region, and we hope you take it all the way and win finals as well. So we're going to be cheering for you, Eva. Thank you so much. Yeah, and watching you on TV, the World Cup Finals, we can say, there's Eva, we met her on the couch. So Eva, thank you so much, and again, congratulations on all of this. Thank you. Very, very proud of you. And if you'd like to learn more about programs that are offered through the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, you can visit bgca.org.