The hug was meaningful. Lisa Mix threw her arms around little sister, Joslyn, after the younger Mix was named the 2026 Youth of the Year for Boys & Girls Clubs of the San Luis Valley during a breakfast ceremony Tuesday.
The two have grown up together inside the Club. Lisa was a freshman in high school and Joslyn a six-year-old when Lisa was named Youth of Year and was awarded a full-ride scholarship to Adams State as part of the honor.
Adams State has provided the full-ride scholarship ever since, and now Joslyn Mix will gain the same advantage as her older sister – college paid for by the local university after she became the second member of the Mix family to be named Youth of the Year.
Their parents, Tammy Keever and Ray Mix, looked on with pride.
“Looking back at who I was when I was six is so much different. Thanks to the Boys and Girls Clubs for giving me the opportunity and comfort to grow as a person,” Joslyn Mix said in her acceptance speech.
As she spoke, her sister Lisa looked on with immense pride. She is now a graduate of Adams State and has started her own career working at Boys & Girls Clubs to continue to assist club members like her baby sister.
The baby sister is now 16 and a reminder of how quickly the years pass by as kids grow up.
“It’s a launchpad,” said Jason Medina, who was working at the Club when Lisa and her sister were growing up there. He gave the Youth of the Year keynote address.
“When a young person walks through those doors, they’re not just filling time, they’re building capacity and that capacity compounds,” he said. “A child becomes a graduate. A graduate becomes a business owner. A business owner hires locally. A leader gives back. That’s how a community is transformed, one young person at a time.”