SELMA - A driven, precocious young man of many abilities is the youth of year at the Boys and Girls Club of Johnston County. At age 14, LaMale Williams is a preacher, singer, organist, choir director, tutor and more. A full list would probably strain the space limits of a small newspaper.

It's a lot to handle, on top of the not-to-be-understated challenges of being a teenager. A simple moral code and a heck of a work ethic keep Williams chugging.

"I really don't do it for recognition," he said last week at the Boys and Girls Club in Selma. "Some things just have to be done, and if I can do it I'm going to do it."

After becoming youth of the year for the local Boys & Girls Club, Williams ran against two high school seniors in a regional contest. He came in second out of three, despite the age gap.

The eighth-grader spends his nights studying the Bible and writing sermons, and this month, he is going to church every night. By day, he helps run Selma Middle School's student government, volunteers at the Boys and Girls Club, tutors younger students and performs in a choir.

At the Boys and Girls Club, Williams sometimes takes a moment's break to bang out self-taught jazz and gospel riffs on an aging piano. They sound good, even on keys that have long needed a good tuning. Williams has a strong singing voice, too, and can play the baritone horn and organ.

He dresses sharply and seems to get a lift from a well-pressed outfit. His school has dress guidelines, but Williams would tuck in his shirt no matter what the rules said.

"I believe if he could, he'd wear a three-piece suit every day," said Mamie Moore, director of the Boys & Girls Club in Selma.

"Every day, ev-er-y day," Williams added.

The boy has plenty of good influences, but his drive and unique style seem to come from within. One morning, as a 6-year-old, Williams woke from a vivid dream and told his grandmother that he would like to preach. Not long afterward, he delivered his first sermon.

"I like being different; I'm not that much of a follower," Williams said. "What people do around me does not affect me. I do what I want to do."

His grandmother, pastor Nellie Ward, reared him in his early years and instilled a love of the Bible in her grandson. Now, he says the Boys & Girls Club gives him a place to help others and a sanctuary in a hectic life. He is one of several junior staff members there.

"He's still 14 -- the pressures come at him the same they come at other kids," Moore said. "This gave him somewhere to come, be positive and enjoy his friends."

The teen's typical day starts at 6 a.m., and it's often 6 p.m. before he is back at the house where his mother and three of his four sisters live. His home life is hectic and loving, he said.

"We get home and everybody's running around, looking for a snack or something to eat," he said of the nightly routine. "My mom starts cooking, girls are on their phones, looking at the TV ... I'm in my room, reading my Bible."

The religious education that his grandmother began is a strong thread for the Selma teen. He is close with his father, who has been in prison for five years, but his role models are pastors and ministers like his godfather and uncle. Williams has enormous respect for his mother too, he said.

"My life has been difficult, to say the least," he wrote in an essay. "It's a difficult task raising children, but having to raise them alone makes it even more challenging."

In turn, Williams is a pillar for his sisters, who range from 6 to 14 years old.

"If you need someone to talk to, you should go to my brother because he's a great adviser," Naaliyah Williams wrote in an endorsement for the Boys & Girls Club youth of the year award. "I'm so glad that I have him as a brother."