Carolina Correa, 19, was named the National Youth of The Year by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, making her the first Hispanic female to earn the title.

The award, which also comes with $26,000 in scholarship funds from the Reader's Digest Foundation, recognizes the outstanding contributions to a member's family, school, community and Boys & Girls Club; academic excellence; and personal challenges and obstacles overcome.

Correa, her mother and her younger brother all emigrated to the U.S. from Columbia when the teen was just 12 years old. She couldn't speak English, and her mother worked long hours supporting their small family.

After school, Correa spent time at the Boys & Girls Club in Pawtucket, learning English and getting deeply involved in the club's aquatics program. She was named most valuable swimmer three times and created a program to teach the basics of swimming to inner city youth.

She also dedicated many hours to community service projects, including tutoring immigrants who were preparing for the U.S. citizenship exam. Now, she's a swim coach at the same club she attended.

"In my state, swimming lessons are a luxury," she said. "A lot of minority kids in my community wouldn't be able to swim if it wasn't for the Boys & Girls Club."

When her name was called as the winner at a recent Congressional breakfast, Correa, who's a seven-year member of the Pawtucket, R.I. chapter, said she couldn't believe she was chosen from such a stellar field of fellow BGCA members.

"I was like, 'Oh, my God!'" Correa told ParentDish. "I was shocked. I felt my heart just drop and my knees were shaking. It is such a privilege and an honor that out of 4.5 million kids, I will be representing the largest youth organization in the country."

The college student will spend the next year representing the BGCA organization, and she added that she will also be sharing the "hard work and dedication of all of the BGCA staff."

"I know how much work they are putting into kids, and I want to show the world that this is what they do," Correa said. "And I want to show the world what they did for me."

According to the BGCA Web site, the organization's mission is to provide youth with a place other than the streets to find companionship and recreational activities, as well as instilling a sense of "competence, usefulness, belonging and influence."

In Correa's case, the BGCA met every single one of those goals.

Besides volunteering her time to help kids just like her, Correa also attends classes at Assumption College in Massachusetts, where she studies psychology and political science. She said that without the BGCA, life would've been very different.

"If it wasn't for the Boys & Girls Club, it would have been so much harder for me, and I never would have developed a passion for sport," she said. "I can't imagine not having it be involved in my life, and I don't think I would have been so determined to overcome my challenges without it."