McNair named Pee Dee Youth of the Year, Morrison runner-up

FLORENCE, S.C. — The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Pee Dee Area named Justin McNair of Lake City as the Pee Dee Youth of the Year during its annual Steak N Burger Dinner March 9.

The honor came with a $4,000 scholarship from The Carraway Turner Leadership Fund. He will compete in the state event in Greenville on April 1.

“Whatever you put your mind to, you can do it,” McNair says.

Adopted as an infant by a single mother in rural South Carolina, McNair had the odds stacked against him, but at 16 he’s graduating from high school.

He struggled against ADHD and the stigma attached to the condition. He found a love of music and the piano in second grade. Then a few years later, he suffered the loss of his piano teacher and best friend and a year later a close uncle.

“It was very hard on me,” McNair says. “I became quiet, started falling behind, then the virtual break hit, and I fell even further behind … part of me was also saying I don’t think I can do this.”

After the pandemic waned, and he returned to in-person classes, he found the Boys & Girls Club.

“He needed activity after school, homework help, and a male role model,” said his mother, Mary.

His goal is to become a musician and artist, and his mother says the club helped him get on the right path. “The club was the ideal place for him.”

Two years at the Lake City Boys & Girls Club & Youth Technology shifted his trajectory and allowed him to step outside his comfort zone.

The welcoming environment of the club helped him develop and grow.

Currently a senior at JP Truluck Creative Arts & Science Magnet School, McNair says the two words that best describe him now are outgoing and entertaining.

His motto is “Good character is something that you have to build; it doesn’t come overnight.”

Staff at the Boys & Girls Club showed him that character.

“Whenever you had a dream, they made sure they did everything in their power to accomplish that,” McNair says. “I really love the Boys & Girls Club, and I really would have regretted if Mom didn’t force me to go.”

The two-year member was one of six Club Youth of the Year honored at the event.

Others included Antonio Dix representing the Hartsville Boys & Girls Club, Tiana Hickson representing the Timmonsville Boys & Girls Club, Sydney Morrison representing the Pamplico Boys & Girls Club, Nydia Orange representing the North Florence Boys & Girls Club, and Jose Rodriguez representing The Rick & Susan Goings Boys & Girls Club in Hemingway.

Runner-up Sydney Morrison of Pamplico earned a $1,000 scholarship from The Carraway Turner Leadership Fund.

A seventh-grader at Hannah-Pamplico Elementary Middle School, she says the two words that best describe her are encouraging and ambitious. Her personal standard is “to strive for excellence.”

Her first experience with a Boys & Girls Club came when she lived in New York, continued when she moved to Lake City and now in Pamplico. “It’s really a safe place for me,” the 13-year-old said.

“The Boys & Girls Club has helped me make so many friends,” Morrison says gratefully.

She recounts all the fun activities and events she got to be part of at the Boys & Girls Club, including checkers, BINGO, field trips, and even learning Spanish. “I hope everyone gets to enjoy Boys & Girls Club just as much as I did.”