Teen Advocates Do Good & Win Big with Super Bowl Tickets

Champions aren’t only reserved for the Super Bowl. Just ask Alexus, Jivoni and Terrence, three Boys & Girls Club teens championing positive change back home — and heading to Super Bowl LIX in celebration of their hard work.

“I was absolutely shocked when I won,” said Terrence, age 18. “When it was announced at my Club, I remember looking around thinking somebody else won, then slowly realizing — ‘oh, it’s me!’”

Youth Advocates Score Tickets to Super Bowl 2025

When we invest in and empower teens, they have the power to create real change in the world. Boys & Girls Clubs of America taps into this potential through the Think, Learn, Create Change (TLC) program, teaching teens how to advocate for social justice issues that matter to them and their communities.

To help youth develop these skills, BGCA and our TLC partner, the NFL Inspire Change social justice Initiative, created the Inspire Change Badge Challenge — empowering teens to learn advocacy skills and engage in community projects through their local Boys & Girls Club.

This year, three participants who completed the challenge were randomly selected to receive a pair of tickets to Super Bowl LIX. These “Champions of Change” are Jivoni from Boys & Girls Club of Bellevue, WA, Alexus from Boys & Girls Club of the Hatchie River Region, TN, and Terrence from Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, GA.

“We are the future game-changers, and our voices deserve to be heard,” said Jivoni, age 16.

Each teen will take a free trip to New Orleans and participate in Super Bowl weekend events like the Super Bowl Experience, before attending the big game.

“Touching Down” on Issues Teens Care About

Jivoni has been attending the Boys & Girls Club of Bellevue for seven years. His TLC initiative, “Move for Love,” was created to support his peers in building healthy relationships by learning the signs of an unhealthy one and domestic violence.

“It’s important for me to be a leader because I have a little brother, and I want to help teach him right from wrong,” said Jivoni. “I’m not the most vocal leader, but I lead by example, and that’s something my Club and my family taught me how to do.”

Jivoni dreams of playing college football for LSU and advancing to the NFL. The most important adult in his life is his mother, whom he’s proudly taking to the Super Bowl.

Sixth grader Alexus has been with the Boys & Girls Club of the Hatchie River Region for three years. The Club is located in Covington, Tennessee, the state county with the highest crime rate. Many local teens know someone who has been impacted by gun violence. In response, Alexus joined her sister in rallying their Club to create a video about the impact of gun violence to share with community leaders and local police officials.

Attending the Super Bowl holds special significance for Alexus, fulfilling a lifelong dream of her late grandfather.

“I’m excited to go to the Super Bowl because it shows that all my hard work and dedication paid off,” she said. “My mom is at the Club a lot, too, and winning these tickets has been one of the most memorable moments for my family.”

Quarterbacking Teen Mental Health: Terrence’s Story

High school senior Terrence has felt at home at the Douglas County Boys & Girls Club since following his sister there at the age of 11.

“Right away, I felt like I could talk to the adults at the Club, unlike at the daycares I attended before, where they just watched me,” he shared.

Terrence remembers his first day in the TLC youth advocacy program, led by the Club’s teen director.

“Billy gathered us around. Then we all wrote on the whiteboard the kinds of issues we’d been seeing in our community and the country. Two topics came up repeatedly: teen mental health and gun violence.”

Following this brainstorm, Terrence’s TLC Club organized a panel discussion with city council members, the local sheriff and a social worker. There, they asked questions about how their community is tackling these issues and passed out a survey with Club members’ thoughts.

“One of my questions was, ‘What are we doing in our school systems to address gun violence and teen mental health?’” said Terrence.

“We also made signs showing the many things that can affect a teenager’s mental health — gun violence, driver safety, academic pressures, personal identities — that I became in charge of. I called our project, ‘Mental Triggers.’”

The teens used arts and crafts supplies to create posters. Then, Terrence and his TLC Club traveled to Capitol Hill for Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s annual Summit for America’s Youth, sharing their signs and sparking conversations with members of Congress.

“The TLC program taught me how to take a stand and be affirmative in my stance. There’s a quote from Marvel that I like — ‘Even if the whole world is telling you to move, it is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye, and say, ‘No, you move.’ That’s the attitude I took to D.C.”

While Terrance admits that he doesn’t know much about football, he’s excited to visit New Orleans with his dad, eat gumbo and watch Kendrick Lamar’s half-time show.

“To inspire change means to lift somebody up who is feeling down. Then, they might do the same for others,” said Terrence. “My Club has always been there for me. The adults know my story and believe that I am somebody who is inspiring change.”

Thanks to partners like the NFL, BGCA provides teens with valuable skills and access to once-in-a-lifetime moments. Find programs for teens at a Club near you or donate to help more youth spend their after-school time engaging in their communities.

About The NFL Foundation

The National Football League Foundation (NFL) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of those impacted by the game of football — from players at all levels to communities across the country. The NFL Foundation and its members, the 32 NFL clubs, support the health, safety and wellness of athletes, youth football and the communities that support our game. Through the NFL’s Inspire Change platform, Boys & Girls Clubs and the youth they serve across the country, convene community stakeholders, local government officials and police departments to learn more about social justice issues that impact the community. Learn more about the NFL’s partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America.