08 May Antioch High Junior Wins Youth of the Year Award

Fifita Grewe, second from left, is Antioch’s 2024 Youth of the Year. She is a junior at Antioch High where she plays four sports and is student body president.

Story by Joe Porrello | Photos courtesy of Fifita Grewe

Fifita Grewe — already student body president as a junior at Antioch High and a four-sport athlete — won the Antioch Youth of the Year Award in February.

Known to most as “Fita,” Grewe moved to Antioch from East Palo Alto in 2016 after being born in Texas. 

She joined the basketball team in sixth grade, something she points to as part of the root of her success. One of her coaches then, Ashley Garcia, is now Antioch High’s physical education teacher. She still coaches Grewe in basketball and flag football as well. Grewe credits Garcia with inspiring her to play other sports.

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“It kind of drove me to be more active and stay active, and now I just love the game of basketball, the game of football, the game of softball, and the game of volleyball,” said Grewe.

A power forward and center, she said basketball is her favorite sport to play. When it comes to watching, she puts football above the rest and is an avid San Francisco 49ers fan.

Her involvement with student government, she noted, also stems from a coach on her middle school basketball team, Nick Wisely — who is now a leadership teacher and head softball coach at Antioch High.

“He really saw the potential in me,” Grewe said. “I knew a lot of the kids in school, and I just felt like I was a natural-born leader, so being able to put my characteristics into use is always a good thing.”

Despite her self-confidence, Grewe doesn’t take the award for granted.

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“I definitely feel like it’s an honor,” she said. “The happiness it brought me was great, and it was kind of a blessing because I’ve been through so much at home.”

Losing two grandparents between 2020 and 2021, Grewe also lost some of her inspiration when she stopped receiving their frequent phone calls expressing how proud of her they were.

“That was a setback for me because I also looked up to them; they were the best people I’ve ever met in my life,” she said. “Not being able to receive those calls kind of made me not want to do anything anymore.”

But now, Grewe uses the memory of her grandparents as motivation. 

She is further driven by her parents, her mother from American Samoa and her father from Tonga.

“Hearing them tell me their story about growing up and not having certain things that I have kind of just pushed me to be a good kid, do what I can in school, and strive for success,” said Grewe. “A lot of kids don’t get this opportunity.”

With another year of high school left, she says the challenge of trying to win the award again is something she looks forward to.

“What I’m going to try to do is make our school a better place, a safer place for kids that they can enjoy coming to, and just continue to be the person that I am,” Grewe said.

After Antioch High, her plan is to go to college and major in kinesiology, play basketball at the next level, and pursue a career in sports medicine.