CAMDEN, S.C. — A special announcement occurred at the Kershaw County Council Meeting on March 28th.
The Jackson Teen Center recognized student athlete Tylin Drakeford as the winner of their first-ever Summer Grind 2022-2023 Athlete of the Year.
"It felt pretty good it felt like an honor really," says student, Tylin Drakeford.
The 15-year-old attends Camden High School and was presented the award in front of the county council.
The program allows students to play summer sports mainly basketball at no cost to the families, in order to play, students must be in Algebra 1 or Algebra 2.
After the directors of the program spent months observing the students, Director Brian Mayes said there was one clear leader and mentor,
"This one name was somebody that was just a total example of what we were looking for and that kid is Tylin Drakeford. Tylin Drakeford has a three-sport athlete at Camden high school, football, basketball, and track, he's involved in a number of community things as well as he remains on the A-b honor roll," says Mayes.
"It feels good it was really a surprise for me I really didn't know, it felt good though" adds Drakeford.
Now the award has been named after him for future students who take part in the program.
"It was awesome we always push academics onto Tylin we always say as long as you excel in the classroom you can do anything in sports that you put your mind to," says the mother of Tylin, Annika Draekford.
Families who want to register their kids in next summer's program can do so here.