photo by: Contributed

Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence CEO Monica Dittmer is pictured at the club's 2023 Youth of the Year ceremony.

The Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence is searching for a new leader, after CEO Monica Dittmer announced this week that she’s leaving the position for a role with the Eudora Schools Foundation.

The Boys & Girls Club announced the leadership change in a news release Friday afternoon. Per the release, Dittmer will stay in the role in a part-time capacity to help support the club during the transition, and the club’s board of directors will establish a search committee to find the next CEO. Dittmer has served as the club’s CEO since 2020, but has been with the organization since 2002.

“I’ve grown up at the Boys & Girls Club, quite literally,” Dittmer said in the release. “I was still a baby myself when I started as a group leader who thought it would be fun to hang out with kids while I was a college student. It has been an honor to watch kids grow up in this community for more than 20 years. The only thing that could take me away from this place are my four favorite kids in the community — they all call me ‘Mom.’ The club is a part of me, and I will always be sitting in the first row, cheering them on.”

While serving as CEO, Dittmer helped guide the club through the COVID-19 pandemic. She helped open a Boys & Girls Club location at each one of the Lawrence school district’s elementary schools during her time as the club’s director of operations and helped boost average daily attendance up to 1,500 kids per day.