All of the fall sports teams and 27 individual athletes were honored at last week’s O’Neill High School fall sports awards.
Assistant Principal Robin Haberman welcomed all of the families in the audience. She paid particular praise to the scholar athlete teams, noting that the honor, which requires the team’s grade point average to be 90% or above, is “prestigious”.
“In a school any size, but certainly in one as small as ours, this is truly impressive,” Haberman said. “But, like you, I am proud of all our student athletes, for the time and effort they put in. We are so proud of our athletes.”
Haberman introduced Athletic Director Debbi Crowe, who also praised the team and individual accomplishments, as well as said she was especially grateful for the efforts fall athletes put into community service events, such as a ‘pink out’ to raise money for the Miles of Hope cancer charity, helping at the community’s annual food drive, and individual fundraisers such as the volleyball program’s ‘Diggin for a Cure’. She also noted that the winter sports teams are in the midst of collecting new toys to benefit local children in the coming holiday season. Gifts can be dropped off in the high school’s main lobby until December 16.
“I was proud to witness our athlete’s willingness to give back to their school and community,” Crowe said, noting that at the November food drive “we had the highest number of students participate than we ever have”.
Before the individual awards began, Crowe thanked many individuals and entities who helped make the season successful, including Superintendent of Schools Dr. Frank Sheboy, the Board of Education and district administration, the USMA Athletic Department, the West Point Prep School, the HF-FMCSD’s Buildings & Grounds and Transportation Departments, and the O’Neill PTSC (Crowe particularly thanked the PTSC for their sponsorship of the Homecoming parade and spirit rally).
For a complete list of teams honored and individual awards, please see page 7A of this week’s issue (December 6, 2019) of The News of the Highlands.
