photo by: Alissa Bauer, BGCLK / Contributed Photo

Ruth Gathunguri, a senior at Free State High School, is pictured with her fan base after being named Boys & Girls Club Kansas Youth of the Year for the second consecutive year on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.

For the second year in a row, Ruth Gathunguri, of Lawrence, was named the Boys & Girls Club’s Kansas Youth of the Year at a ceremony in Topeka on Wednesday.

Ruth, a senior at Free State High School, was selected for the second time as Lawrence Youth of the Year on Jan. 31. She took both honors in 2018, as well.

“At first, I thought people were going to be tired of people seeing my face,” Ruth said in a news release from Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence. “But I knew it was really important to share my story. My passion is to share my story, so I can help people through their own struggles in life.”

photo by: Alissa Bauer, BGCLK / Contributed Photo

Ruth Gathunguri, a Free State High School senior, was named Boys & Girls Club Kansas Youth of the Year for the second consecutive year on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.

Ruth and the other six candidates spent the day in Topeka, according to the release. They gave their speeches, interviewed with judges and participated in the first youth-led Kansas Law Enforcement panel, which “included Chiefs of Police from all over the state taking questions and listening to answers from the candidates.”

Ruth will next represent Kansas at the Southwest Region Youth of the Year ceremony in June.

The Kansas Youth of the Year honor has gone to the Lawrence candidate in five of the last eight years, according to the release.

The daughter of Faith Gathunguri and Gilbert Karuga, Ruth plans to major in education, according to the release. She is looking at Johnson County Community College for her first two years of school before moving on to the University of Kansas.