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Youth of the Year honoree embraces challenges & change

Student Leader: Cyrus Armstrong

Kelloggsville — To be considered for the Youth of the Year honor from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids, candidates must show leadership, service, academic success and healthy living.

Writing an essay and giving a speech to explain how he demonstrated those characteristics was a challenge, said Kelloggsville junior Cyrus Armstrong, but it wasn’t a reason not to try.

“The (organization) helped me realize that there’s a lot of opportunities out there that you don’t always see, and don’t ever turn down an opportunity because it’s too difficult to achieve,” he said.

So Cyrus stepped up to the challenge and took home the Grand Rapids honor in March. That set him on the path to the state competition in April, where he placed fifth.

Cyrus has a positive outlook on next year’s possibilities: “Just because I didn’t win doesn’t mean I can’t do better,” he said.

Principal Nick Patin credits Cyrus’ “amazing growth” at the high school so far.

“His positive attitude and his willingness to help out others have made him a leader by example this year,” Patin said. “He goes out of his way to do the right thing, and does what he can to encourage others to do the same.”  

Lessons Learned at the Club

While Cyrus’ K-12 experience has moved from Grand Rapids to Kentwood to Kelloggsville, one consistent activity has been the Boys and Girls Clubs, he said. 

He recalled fond memories of football and basketball nights at the Seidman Club, one of three Grand Rapids locations. 

“They see something in you that you don’t always see in yourself,” he said, pushing young people out of their comfort zones to help them “become a better person.”

‘Carry yourself with a positive attitude, keep a smile on your face and stay true to who you are.’

— Kelloggsville junior Cyrus Armstrong

It is also where he learned to “be you,” he said, and the golden rule of “treat others like how you want to be treated.”

Those are lessons he has transferred to his daily life at Kelloggsville High School, where he tries to use with his peers the mentorship skills he has gained through the Boys and Girls Clubs. 

“When I won Youth of the Year for the city, (another Kelloggsville student) asked me, ‘Man, how’d you win it?’” Cyrus recalled. “I said, ‘Just stand out of the way and follow God’s image, and just do you.’”

Cyrus said he sees many students and others doing amazing things for which they are not recognized, so is humbled to have received the award.

He also has a passion to make an impact and elevate the positives, like the many mentors he has had in family, teachers and coaches.

“I remember Coach O (Derrick Owen), Coach DO,” Cyrus said. “He would say, ‘My initials are ‘DO. If I can do it, you can do it.’”

Owen was one of the leaders who helped him see life from a different perspective, Cyrus said, and shared his observation that people are often judged on first impressions. 

“That’s why it’s so important to carry yourself with a positive attitude, keep a smile on your face and stay true to who you are.”

Read more from Kelloggsville: 
Enjoying her senior — and only — year at this high school
Her motto of ‘always work hard’ leads to early graduation

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Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
Joanne Bailey-Boorsma is a reporter covering Kent ISD, Godwin Heights, Kelloggsville, Forest Hills and Comstock Park. The salutatorian for the Hartland Public Schools class of 1985, she changed her colors from blue and maize to green and white by attending Michigan State University, where she majored in journalism. Joanne moved to the Grand Rapids area in 1989, where she started her journalism career at the Advance Newspapers. She later became the editor for On-the-Town magazine, a local arts and entertainment publication. Her husband, Mike, works the General Motors plant in Wyoming; her oldest daughter, Kara, is a registered nurse working in Holland, and her youngest, Maggie, is studying music at Oakland University. She is a volunteer for the Van Singel Fine Arts Advisory Board and the Kent District Library. In her free time, Joanne enjoys spending time with her family, checking out local theater and keeping up with all the exchange students they have hosted through the years.

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