Wellington’s Ian Dreitz will be in Denver on March 22 and 23 competing for the state title of Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year.

Ian was selected in late February to be the representative from Larimer County after the contender from Loveland dropped out of the competition. That left the Poudre High School junior scrambling to complete his application in a short amount of time.

To compete, Ian needed to collect 12 reference letters — two each on the topics of school, home and family, moral character, service to the Boys & Girls Club, life goals and community. Ian himself had to write two essays about what the club has done for him and the importance of a post-high school education.

Ian, his mother Rennee Chavez, and Wellington unit director Kari Jo Lawrence will go to Denver next week to participate in the host of activities. The winner of the Colorado title will be announced the night of March 23.

Ian’s family moved to Wellington (Colorado) almost six years ago. The past two years, he was a member of the Got What It Takes team that did community service pro-jects around Wellington.

At Poudre, the 16-year-old is vice president of Interact, which is Rotary International’s service club for young people. The club helps the Food Bank for Larimer County and has cleaned up trash along the Mulberry corridor.

As a member of the Poudre Link Crew, Ian helps new students adjust to the high school before their first day of classes.

At the Wellington Boys & Girls Club, he helps younger members with computers, cooking and homework.