Accepting the Adelante Con Ganas award from Senator Eliot Shapleigh, Chris Anaya smiles, surrounded by the sounds of his classmates cheering. “I have seen that the big picture is coming alive,” Anaya said. “I am empowering the youth to really make lifelong decisions.”

story by Amanda Brinegar

A few summers ago, he could have never imagined the impact.

Senior Chris Anaya sat in his normal seat, three seats from the left corner, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and watched the clock, waiting for the hand to slide past 11:15.

History teacher Bruce Kilborne was mid-sentence giving homework assignments when he suddenly went silent. A smile appeared on his face.

From the back of the room a voice came: “My name is Eliot Shapleigh and I am here because today is your day in El Paso. You saw a problem, you met the challenge and you got something done, and for that, today you are our Adelante con Ganas Award winner.”

Followed by eight people toting cameras, Senator Shapleigh headed straight for Anaya. The local news station, The El Paso Times, friends and family were all packed into the corner, their cameras pointed at Anaya.

After a hearty applause and a firm handshake, Shapleigh handed Anaya an award for all of his hard work.

“I didn’t think I would be receiving an award for doing something that I was going to do anyway,” Anaya said. “I wasn’t really seeking out to be popular or to receive an award, I just really wanted to help improve the community of El Paso.”

Which Shapleigh says is exactly what Anaya did. Anaya created a nonprofit organization, youthliving.com. It is a resource guide about the El Paso community for young adults and teens.

“The Adelante con Ganas honors ordinary people who do extraordinary things. Chris Anaya has showed us, in our office, new ways to do better things,” Shapleigh said. “He is letting kids know what there is in ways that kids respond to. Whether it’s through Twitter or Facebook the information is getting out and we are seeing people doing more and more things. This is a great community and it’s important that people know about it and he’s taken the lead to get that out there.”

Not only was Anaya wanting to inform youth, he wants the information to be used in a constructive way.

“I was really trying to empower the youth to make positive lifelong decisions. That is pretty much my mission statement,” Anaya said. “I really want the youth to be strong and I want the youth to be able to find these opportunities that are out there for them. Youth that are at the lowest parts of their life, I want them to know that they still have a chance so I want them to be able to use this resource guide and find these opportunities.”

On the site information about community activities, volunteer service options and places for entertainment unique to the El Paso can be found. All things Anaya wished he had at his fingertips two summers ago.

“One day I was sitting on my butt at home, bored. I was telling my dad, ‘There is nothing to do’ and he looked at me; he is always challenging me and so he said ‘So you’re going to be like every other kid and just complain,’ and I didn’t like that,” Anaya said. “So I said ‘What do you mean, what am I supposed to do?’ He answered ‘Why don’t you do something about it?’ So I met with him and a couple of his employees and we came up with this idea to create a resource guide for the youth.”

Anaya’s resource guide wasn’t the only thing that went up on line. His inspiring story soon popped up on Senator Shapleigh’s site.

“People nominate on our website. We filter through a hundred or so nominations. We give one award a month,” Shapleigh said. “We’ve given it to generals at Fort Bliss, we’ve given it to janitors at schools who stay after football games to clean up, we’ve given it to students who have persevered against all odds, we’ve given it to veterans who came back from Iraq after three tours, so it is a big deal for Chris to get this award.”

An award isn’t the only thing Anaya has gained.

Some of that knowledge, Anaya says, has allowed him to truly discover El Paso.

“I have learned that there is a drain brain in El Paso happening. I am really trying to prevent that with the help of everyone. Everyone El Paso produces, all the smartest kids are just leaving to go to college and get careers in different cities and I really want to open up these opportunities to keep the smartest people here and help them stay here and give them incentives to stay here,” Anaya said. “I am also learning that there are so many opportunities available in El Paso, people just have a hard time finding them. So I am going to do that part for them.”

With all his recent success, Anaya says he couldn’t have done it alone.

“I for sure worked hard for it but it wasn’t just me. I can’t take all the credit for it. I think this award really goes to everyone who has helped me, who has helped influence me to get this far,” Anaya said. So with everyone behind me, we all win this award.”