One of the organizations that I’m involved with is the Durham Sports Club. Basically, we’re a social group of over 200 members, and we generally meet on the first and third Wednesdays of each month for lunch and a speaker from the world of sports.
In my opinion, there is one aspect of the Club that really stands out, and that is the “Scholar-Athlete Awards Night.” I’m fortunate to be serving as Chairman of the Awards Night Committee for the 6th consecutive year, and the 8th year out of the past 12 (I was President of the Club for the other 4 years). What really amazes me, however, are the student-athletes that we honor. We have the Athletic Directors of all of Durham’s public and private schools nominate a boy and a girl from their school who has excelled in both scholarship and sports. My committee then selects 2 of the boys and 2 girls to win a total of $3,000 in scholarships. We have all of the nominees and their parents attend a banquet to honor them and to announce the scholarship winners. This year’s nominees have an AVERAGE weighted GPA of around 4.7, and includes a couple of three-sport athletes, a student who scored 2320 (out of 2400) on the SAT, students who have played on state championship teams, students who are going to colleges like Cornell, the US Naval Academy, Duke, UNC, Princeton and more.
We’ve got football, basketball, soccer, swimming, tennis, golf, track, cross country, softball, baseball and lacrosse stars. We’ve got students who have excelled nationally on Latin exams and math competitions. When it comes right down to it, we get to honor the best of the best of Durham! The “Scholar-Athlete Awards Night” is truly one opportunity when we get to focus on everything that’s good about Durham and Durham Schools. Here are this year’s honorees:
Cresset Christian Academy
Brittany White
Thomas Aiken
Durham Academy
Sarah Kearney
Andrew Kuo
Durham School of the Arts
Theresa Meyer
Charles Realubit
Hillside High School
Courtney Hodges
Zac Giles
Jordan High School
Kathryn Greenwell
Sam Selig
NC School of Science and Math
Brooke McKenna
Elliot Cartee
Northern High School
Alison Gerepka
Casey Ellis
Riverside High School
Bennett Sasser
Jared Rist
Trinity School
Camille Morgan
Todd Eckstein
Congratulations to all of these great students and their parents. This is just another part of what makes Durham great!
The Awards Night is Thursday, May 19th. Check back here and I’ll let you know the scholarship recipients. And, if you’d like more information about the Durham Sports Club, please look us up at www.DurhamSportsClub.com
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