Cumberland County teen finalist for New Jersey Youth of the Year

Andranae Sam turned a Boys & Girls Clubs of Cumberland County membership into a path that reached the state level, becoming one of New Jersey’s 16 finalists for Youth of the Year after building experience through service, school and work in Cumberland County.

Boys & Girls Clubs in New Jersey announced the 2025 finalist class on April 24, 2025, and listed Andranae’ S. of Boys & Girls Clubs of Cumberland County among the teens competing for the state’s Youth of the Year and Military Youth of the Year honors. Her listed career interest was psychiatry, a choice that fits the kind of support many young people need as schools, families and community groups work to strengthen youth mental-health care.

The Youth of the Year program is Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s highest teen honor, and the organization says it has existed for more than 75 years. Finalists are judged on leadership, service, academic excellence and healthy lifestyles, a set of standards that matched the way Andranae had already been showing up in Cumberland County. The state winners move on toward the Northeast regional title, and regional winners receive an additional scholarship.

Andranae’s local résumé went well beyond the title. Boys & Girls Clubs of Cumberland County highlighted her participation in a Bridgeton citywide clean-up through the Keystone Club and the Cumberland County Custom Career Club, known as C5. That career-readiness work helped lead to a job as a Junior Counselor at the Youth for Change Center site, giving her a role not just as a participant, but as someone helping younger children inside the same club network that had supported her.

The Cumberland County club named Andranae Sam its 2025 Local Youth of the Year on March 2, 2025, before she advanced to the state contest. The county organization says the Youth of the Year program is a pathway to becoming an ambassador and teen spokesperson for Boys & Girls Clubs, a rare chance for a local student to move from club member to public leader.

Boys & Girls Clubs of Cumberland County, which became a chartered member of Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2004, says its after-school programs focus on healthy lifestyles, academics, community service and recreation. For Cumberland County, Andranae’s rise from club member to statewide finalist reflected more than individual achievement. It showed what can happen when a local institution invests in a teen with leadership potential and gives her room to grow.