Altus AFB teen recognized

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Nathan Clark
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. - --  A teen from Altus Air Force Base was recently named the Youth of the Year Altus and finished as first runner-up in the Military Youth of the Year in the state finals.

Shyanne Tate competed against three other teens in the local level and three others from Tinker Air Force Base, Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and Fort Sill.

Tate and her parents have been at Altus AFB for 20 years. Her father spent four years as an active duty aircraft maintainer, and is now a maintainer with the A-Team. Her mother has worked at the child development center and the youth center.

Tate has been involved in the youth activities on base since she was five years old, she said.

When she got a chance to represent Altus, she took it. 

"It started here at the local level and there were three of us who submitted a package with four essays, four recommendation letters, our transcripts and a short interview," said Tate. "When I went to state, it was the same package, but it had a 15 minute interview that time."

During the state competition, Tate and the other contestants spent the first day getting to know each other. The following day, they spent time at a food bank bagging food, and then they all had a 15 minute interview, answering questions pertaining to current events around the world and their opinions.

"The next day, the top two selected had to give our speeches again," said Tate, "I was first to go and ended up getting first runner-up and a scholarship for $1,500 for college."

Tate said she has been in several scholarship pageants in the past, which made her comfortable in front of others, but was pushed to enter the Youth of the Year contest by her advisor at the Altus AFB Youth Center.

"My advisor started out by doing one of my dances for a pageant," Tate said. "She introduced the idea of the contest to me and thought I'd be a good candidate for it and I should try it."

Taking on the new challenge paid off for Tate.

"Her advisor told Shyanne that they're going to either like you or dislike you for who you are," said her mother, Diana. "The traditional winner is usually in a suit or black interview dress, but Shyanne went in with bright colors and made a great impression."

Although her clothes made an impression, Tate's personality and involvement in her community helped her secure a scholarship.

"She's a pretty strong interview," said Diana. "The three areas they look at are education and career, character and leadership, and fitness. She's very strong in all three."

Even with accumulating 200 hours of community service, Tate attends Altus High School, is enrolled in several college courses, does cheerleading and gymnastics. Along with serving as the Keystone Club secretary and Altus AFB Teen Council representative, she also volunteers as a mentor and teaches cheerleading and gymnastics.

With her high school career coming to a close, Tate is ready to begin a new chapter in her life.

"This summer I made the Universal Cheerleaders Association staff which is a cheer program, to teach cheer all around Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico," Tate said.

"When that ends, I'm going to go to college for my nursing degree and hopefully be able to cheer while I'm there."

Tate said her family has been a large influence in her becoming who she is. "My parents have always taught me, if you start something, you finish it. That helped me learn to set my mind to something and set goals, and they gave me the drive to finish them."

For those who are interested in competing for the Youth of the Year award, Tate gives this advice: "Just have fun with it, because you remember the experience and you will meet a lot of really great people."