Committees have selected the honorees for the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s 2025 Citizen of the Year and the new Emerging Leader award, which will be awarded for the first time.

“While our youth may not have had time to share decades of service with the community, their contributions are significant and deserve recognition,” Beth Pratt, the chamber’s executive director, stated in a press release.

While the Citizen of the Year and Humanitarian awards are voted upon only by a committee of former winners of the awards, with the chamber board’s past president serving as a non-voting committee chair, the Emerging Leader award was approached differently. The chamber involved organizations that serve youth in the community. The Emerging Leader committee was made up of four chamber board members and representatives from three chamber member organizations: the Boys & Girls Club, the YMCA, and Sequim School District.

This year, the luncheon to celebrate the honorees will be held at The Cedars at Dungeness at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 24. Reservations can be made online at sequimchamber.com.

Sound Publishing returns as the Sunshine Sponsor for the event, and is joined by Lavender Sponsors First Fed, 7 Cedars and the Olympic Game Farm, and Spruce Sponsor Sequim Valley Lions.

The honorees include Laila Sundin, a Sequim High School senior. Born and raised in Sequim, Sundin is a dual sport varsity athlete, a volunteer student representative for the Sequim Education Foundation, is the current executive president of the Associated Student Body and has served in leadership positions with the Interact Club, is a member of the National Honors Society and participated in both Knowledge Bowl and Mock Trial. She is also the student liaison to Sequim’s City Council. Even her employment is in service of the community, as she works in the role of Trail Ambassador for the Peninsula Trails Coalition. She was nominated by Philip Trowbridge.

John Bridge

Nominated by David Updike, John Bridge has a long and varied resume of volunteer work across the Dungeness. He was a fourth grade teacher at Helen Haller Elementary School and went well beyond the role of teacher. From leading the Math Olympiad to refereeing soccer and leading school chess clubs, he spent his time mentoring children in the community. He has served the Sequim School Board, Sequim Education Foundation, Sequim Planning Commission, and Olympic Park Associates in various roles. He volunteered with Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County and the Dungeness River Nature Center.

Gary Huff

Gary Huff was nominated by his neighbor Virginia O’Neil, who offered that Huff is “never the loudest voice in the room, but he is often the most thoughtful.” Many in Sequim may recognize Huff’s name from the transition from SARC to YMCA at Sequim’s pool facility. In 2015, the pool closed for a year. Huff spearheaded the campaign to raise $1.5 million to restore and reopen the facility as a fully-functioning YMCA. Huff still serves on the YMCA board and helps to raise $50,000 a year to ensure that no one is ever turned away for inability to pay. Over the years, his fundraising has topped $3 million for the Olympic Peninsula YMCA. And every Tuesday, for 13 years, Huff still found time to work with his group “The Bell Hill Boys” doing trail maintenance in the Olympic National Park.

All three will be honored at the luncheon, and the person chosen as Citizen of the Year will be announced at that time.

The Sequim Citizen of the Year honor has been awarded almost every year since 1968, when it was given to then-Mayor Peter Black. In 2007, a new awarded was added: the Bill and Esther Littlejohn Humanitarian Award. It honors those who donate large sums (greater than $500,000) for special projects in Sequim.

“This is one of the most fun aspects of my job,” Pratt of the annual awards luncheon. “I get to be the steward of this award and plan this event that celebrates Sequim spirit. It is a gift that I look forward to every February.”

For more information about the Citizen of the Year (or any other Chamber of Commerce program) and how you can support the chamber, email director@sequimchamber.com or call 360-683-6197.