WATERVILLE -- A 17-year-old boy from the Penobscot Nation Boys & Girls Club, a satellite unit of the Waterville Area Boys & Girls Club, has been named the 2008 Maine Youth of the Year by a panel of judges.

Gary Fearon, a senior at Old Town High School, will next represent the state in the Northeast Regional Competition, said Karen Estes, human resources director for the Waterville club. The winner there will compete for the national title.

The National Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year will meet the president and be the national club spokesman for the rest of the year.

"He's just a very polite, honest kid -- very helpful," Estes said. "You could just tell the staff love him, other kids look up to him and he's just always willing to help with anything. Then I read that he flies a plane and he's heading off to the military.

"He's going into the Air Force in July, basic training. I thought he was a remarkable kid and I hear more and he just could not represent the club any better."

Fearon has achieved honors or high honors in each of his semesters at Old Town High School. He succeeded in a challenging course load that included pre-calculus, calculus, AP statistics and AP chemistry.

At 13, Fearon joined the Maine Civil Air Patrol and, at 14, flew an airplane for the first time.

Boys & Girls Clubs nominate students to compete for Youth of the Year based on the youth's key activities and accomplishments.

Each participant is required to write two essays, one on "What the club means to me" and the other on "Why post high school education is important," the club's Kim Hawkes said in a press release.

Judging is based on adherence to high moral character and service in the home and the family. The participant also must demonstrate leadership and service to the community, school and to the club.

Contestants were judged by a panel of five, including Maine Supreme Court Justice Donald Alexander, Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills and John Christie, publisher of the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal.

Levi Lamoreau was named Youth of the Year for Augusta Boys & Girls Club for Teens and Katherine Collins is Youth of the Year for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Gardiner.

The Waterville club at the Alfond Youth Center is a parent club for several smaller units, Estes said. Any new club formed must be chartered under the name of the parent group, she said.

Under the Waterville club banner are nine satellite units, two in Waterville, one in Augusta and at five Native American sites, including the Penobscot Nation Boys & Girls Club, where Gary Fearon is a member and his mother Carla is unit director.

There were nine contestants from nine clubs across the state of Maine for this year's competition.

Two other Waterville youth were recognized as well, Estes said. Jennifer Ditano, 16, was named Youth of the Year for the Alfond Center Boys & Girls Club and J. Daniel Gurski, 17, was named Youth of the Year for the South End club.

Estes said the Boys & Girls Club unit in the city's North End had not yet been chartered when the ballots closed for participation this year.

"It feels great," Estes said of Fearon's award. "We really think that we do our best to provide kids with everything they need to become successful adults. Having a Youth of the Year represented out of the Waterville club certainly makes us feel proud that we're accomplishing what we set out to do, which is giving them educational programs, recreational, social programs that really help to build the brightest kids in the state of Maine."

Doug Harlow -- 861-9244

dharlow@centralmaine.com