From Hunger to Healer: Tiana Nurses a Healthier World

When I was younger, hunger was a familiar feeling. To provide for our family, my mom often had to work late, leaving my siblings and I to find our own dinner. I used to lie and say I had eaten, but my classmates still noticed.

When I was seven, a friend told me about Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Nashua. I had heard of after-school programs that provided meals, but most required a paid membership, so I didn’t consider them a real option.

To my surprise, the Boys & Girls Club covered my entire family’s entry fee.

It’s been over a decade since then, and I still can’t think of a place that feels more like home.

An Uncanny Address: 1 Positive Place

My Club’s address was another sign of the community I’d find there: 1 Positive Place.

For the first time, my siblings and I met people who understood what we were going through. Whether school was in or out, we had a snack waiting for us every day. Staff introduced me to many activities, but my favorites were always about giving back.

I began by preparing food bags and knitting blankets for the local soup kitchen. As I got older, I joined Torch Club and Keystone, Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s community leadership programs for tweens and teens.

Fact: becoming a teenager is an awkward time. At the Club’s Teen Center, I not only met my best friends, but also mentors who saw my potential as a leader.

Advocating for the Entire Student Body

Something else my Club taught me: once you start helping people, you don’t want to stop. My senior year of high school, I was able to help my school’s entire female population.

I had proudly joined the women’s empowerment club to help female students feel more included in our school’s policies and decisions. One day, we noticed feminine hygiene products were not provided in the school’s bathrooms, despite this being a law in our state. Instead, they were only available in the nurse’s office. Not only were most girls in our school unaware of this, but in a survey we conducted, many said they felt embarrassed asking an adult for feminine products.

Our group made our case to the principal, creating a slideshow of the costs and steps for putting these products into women’s restrooms. One of the school’s concerns was vandalism, but we presented research showing that feminine product dispensers are less likely to be vandalized when students know they were advocated for by their peers.

Our pitch worked, and later this year, our school’s female students will find feminine product dispensers in every women’s bathroom, each one proudly labeled, “By students for students.”

With This Many People to Thank, Surely, I’ll Be Played Off Stage

The list of Club staff who mentored me is long to say the least.

When I first came to the Club, I was on the verge of being held back in school. Josh led the Power Hour tutoring program and worked with me every day after school.

After one year at the Club, I found myself going to school daily, keeping up good grades and becoming a social butterfly.

Tim, the Club’s athletic director, got me into track and synchronized swimming. And, of course, Janeth, guided me through Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Youth of the Year leadership program.

Meeting so many accomplished teens at Youth of the Year events was truly inspiring. It was clear that no matter where we came from, we were all going places.

When I became Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2025-2026 Northeast Youth of the Year, the victory felt greater than my own. Instead, it felt like I was opening the door for other kids, especially those in my Club, to go as far as they want to in life.

Healing the World Starts at Home

After a lot of hard work, I graduated early with acceptances to every college nursing program I’d applied to. This fall, I’ll start studying at Endicott College. Until then, I’m working with my sister, who is a dental hygienist, to get more dental products donated to my Boys & Girls Club.

Growing up, I knew many kids whose parents couldn’t afford medical or dental insurance. My grandmother also wasn’t able to get the proper medical care she needed.

By earning my nursing degree, and possibly my Ph.D., I’m excited to be the change that I wanted to see when I was younger.

I dream of bringing medicine to more people, including providing free check-ups at childcare organizations. Socializing with diverse people at the Club has also prepared me to have good bedside manners, so I can give my future patients the best care.

Because, ultimately, everything that kids learn at Boys & Girls Clubs is bound to show up in their future.

Kindness. Patience. Support. These traits will stand out in the Club Kids who grow up to become doctors, lawyers and successful adults.

The best part is that we will give back, the same way our Clubs gave to us. Just wait — a healthier world is on the horizon, and Club Kids are nurturing it, one day at a time.