After six years of helping teens at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club, Teen Room coordinator Luke Kisena will be able to help a lucky few even more.
He recently was awarded one of 12 national Maytag Dependable Leader Awards for his efforts with local teens.
The award includes a $20,000 grant to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Olympic Peninsula for $1,500 educational scholarships to club members graduating this spring and in coming years. A portion of the money will also go to programming for young adults.
“I’m really excited,” Kisena said.
“I really like that the other winners I saw were in metropolitan/urban areas. In the outskirts, we may not have gangs but we deal with the same problems of meth addiction and other problems. I want to get the word out that we’re not here to babysit.”
Kisena facilitates eight programs including his own “Paint the Town” where club members can paint murals and/or art pieces in the club and community. In six years, he’s led teens on 13 projects including Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali murals in the club and other murals for local businesses.
Five teens filmed a Paint the Town project for the Sequim Education Foundation’s Film Festival in 2013 and won first place and $3,000 in scholarships, too.
Kyle Gordeuk, 17, who has been with the Sequim club since first grade, said he’s helped Kisena with murals and the film project.
“(Kisena) is an awesome guy, good friend and he’s always been there for me,” he said.
“He’s brought a lot of humor and activities to the club. We’ve gone on trips, gone paint balling; I wouldn’t have done them if not for the club and Luke.”
Teen Club staffer Courtney Garman nominated Kisena for his efforts in helping students grow.
“From leading mentor programs to offering youth undivided support, Luke is not only a phenomenal staff member, but also a safe haven for some of our club members to confide in,” she said.
“Luke would gladly give the shirt off his back to help the kids in our community. I could go on for days about the endless efforts he puts forth in our club. Never have I seen someone so committed to helping youth reach their full potential,” Garman said.
Along with Paint the Town, Kisena leads “Making Proud Choices,” the clubs’ State Alliance-funded teen pregnancy prevention program that focuses on educating students about sexually transmitted infections and teenage pregnancy. So far, he’s helped more than 50 teens graduate from the program this school year.
Kisena said it feels good to be recognized but he’s most proud of the students.
“I like the feeling of watching the teens succeed,” he said. “Success comes in many forms. We want to be available to provide as many amenities as possible and do whatever we can to help.”
From here, Kisena said he wants to explore more opportunities within the Boys & Girls Club but still be able to interact with the children.
“It’s fun for me and I don’t want to be steamrolled by paper work,” he said. “It’s very important for me to stay on the ground floor. You can change more lives.”
The Maytag Dependable Leader Awards are part of Maytag’s annual donations to the Boys & Girls Clubs and it has donated more than $3.5 million in the past three years.
For more information on the Sequim Boys & Girls Club, 400 W. Fir St., visit positiveplaceforkids.net/ or call 683-8095.
