UHS Youth of the Year: Arni Daroy

December 21, 2015

Arni Daroy with Irvine City Council member, Jeffrey Lalloway (Courtesy of Daroy family)

By ARIANA APOSTOL
Staff Writer
This year’s Youth of the Year is Arni Daroy (Sr.), a high achieving student both in and out of UHS. As the recipient of this award, Daroy received scholarship opportunities and several commendations from important figures in the City of Irvine.
The four Youths of the Year are chosen by the Crossroads Exchange Club of Orange County and are selected from six Youth of the Month students from University, Northwood, Woodbridge and Irvine High Schools.
In order to be Youth of the Month, students must be nominated by teachers and can then submit applications which are reviewed by the Scholarship Committee, a group made up of counselors, teachers and the Assistant Principal.
The Youth of the Month recipients are honored at a district-wide breakfast, where one from each school is announced as Youth of the Year. The winners from the city level may then continue to compete at a district and statewide level, where they can earn scholarships for college.
“They recognize students that are great role models on our campus,” Ms. Ashley Wolford (Counseling Dept.), the counselor in charge of the Youth of the Year at UHS, said. “The counselors and staff look for someone that is involved both at Uni and outside of Uni, who is doing well academically, and who is a positive role model on our campus.”
The committee felt that Daroy exemplified what a Youth of the Year should be. Daroy is a part of ASB and has worked as an editor for the past three years at UHS’s Sword & Shield. She also works for the City of Irvine, holds a state level position in Junior State of America (JSA) and is co-president of both UHS’s JSA chapter and the Youth Action Team (YAT) at UHS. Additionally, Daroy is in Mock Trial, leads IMPACT and has attended multiple leadership conferences where she represented UHS.
UHS is often given a reputation for its vigorous academic climate, but Daroy argues that UHS students are often overlooked for their kindness and supportive nature as well.
“I was actually really surprised when I won because everyone else was so amazing, so I thought there was no way that it was going to be me,” Daroy said. “The best part for me was that when the winners were called up to be recognized, all the other Uni nominees were clapping for me. I could tell they were genuinely happy for me, and it was really nice. I definitely feel so proud to be from Uni.”

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