Jeffrey Warner, 25, an administrator for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale (BGCS), was recently honored as the National Keystone Advisor of the Year for his dedication to teen development at Boys & Girls Clubs around the Scottsdale area.

Warner is also a student at Arizona State University (ASU) and described himself as a “proud Jew,” having spent the last three years on the student board of Chabad at ASU.

As a teen development specialist at BGCS’ Vestar Branch, serving the Desert Ridge and North Phoenix communities, Warner implemented and oversaw teen programming for up to 130 participants at a time.

This included spearheading the club’s Keystone group, a character, leadership and community service program for teens ages 14 to 18.

Warner described Keystone as a “club within a club.” Most BGCS branches administer a Keystone element, but a selective application process and minimum GPA requirement limit each group to just 20 spots.

According to the BGCS website, Keystone activities are focused on “service to club and community, character and leadership development, education and career exploration, unity, free enterprise and social recreation.”

As the advisor, Warner connects with nonprofit organizations in the community and finds ways for teens to contribute to causes that are important to them.

“I’m the advisor, so I’m motivating them, helping them, giving them all the resources they need,” he said.

This year, 16 Keystone members collectively completed more than 3,000 hours of community service under Warner’s direction and guidance.

One of the projects the Keystone members completed this year included visiting Hospice of the Valley on Valentine’s Day, where they sat with patients, sang to them and delivered handwritten letters and roses.

Keystone members also went to a rescue ranch in Cave Creek, where they groomed horses that were previously abused, as well as the Durango Courthouse in Phoenix, which houses the juvenile court system, where they provided a fun experience on National Adoption Day with face painting, music and dancing as adopted children began their lives with new families.

One of the teens nominated Warner for the National Keystone Advisor of the Year, and he was chosen by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) staff and last year’s awardee, among hundreds of nominees from around the world.

Warner listed caring and showing up for the teens, elevating their voices and advising, guiding and empowering them to make decisions for their own benefit and the benefit of others, as a few of the reasons he may have stood out from the pool of advisors.

Warner received the award while chaperoning nine Keystone teen members at the National Keystone Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Multiple awards are distributed at the national conference every year, but the two highest honors are Club of the Year and Advisor of the Year.

Club of the Year went to a club in Germany, while Warner, who started as a member of Boys & Girls Clubs when he was 5 years old, took home Advisor of the Year.

Warner brought the teens on stage with him as he accepted the award, and he described the moment as “full circle,” considering how much BGCA has shaped his life.

The organization offered Warner his first job, provided scholarship opportunities for college and, most recently, promoted him to the position of life and workforce readiness manager at BGCS’ administrative offices.

“In my current role, I oversee all teen internship opportunities,” Warner said. “I prepare our teens for the workforce, and I line them up with internships, certifications and career exploration opportunities.”

In addition to helping shape the next generation of leaders at BGCS, Warner graduates this December with a degree in history, focused on World War II from the Japanese perspective in the Western Pacific.

Because of his heritage, he dedicated some of his World War II research to the Holocaust, having visited concentration camps and ghettos in Poland on a Chabad trip called LivingLinks.

Warner shared his favorite slogan to use with the teens he supervises: “A life of giving is a life worth living,” and he strives to embody this slogan with everyone he meets and in everything he does. JN