A Tyrone girl is the recipient of a very prestigious award. Amber DelBaggio, a senior at Tyrone Area High School, has been named the local award winner of the Hometown High School Champion Contest. The presentation was made in the TAHS gymnasium during a pep rally held to honor athletes who participate in winter sports and cheerleading.
The award is sponsored by Walmart and Coca-Cola Enterprises. Each Walmart store in the Unitedb States could enter as many as five student/athletes. A total of just 25 athletes were then selected from across the United States.
Quaifications were outstanding athletic achievement, academic excellence, school pride, leadership and community service. Winners were selected by a Walmart/Coca-Cola panel of judges.
A donation of $1,500 is then made to each athlete’s high school on behalf of the athlete.
Although Amber was completely unaware of her nomination, she truly embodies each of the criteria.
Outstanding athletic excellence-Amber was an integral part of her volleyball team in the fall earning Mountain League All-Star honors as a setter and serving as a captain on a squad that compiled a 14-4 regular season record in just the third year of varsity competition and is a starter and captain of the Lady Eagles basketball team, who keeps defenses honest by popping threes from beyond the line.
Academic excellence-Amber has a 4.2 grade-point average and for those of us who are uninforned, a four is the equivalent of an A when we were in school. She is currently ranked second in her class at TAHS.
School pride-Amber plays sports all through the school year and attends other sports and school events. Amber makes everyone around her feel pride in being a Golden Eagle.
Leadership-Just to cite two of many examples, Amber was captain of the volleyball team and is a captain of the basketball team. She is also vice-president of the Key Club and a member of the TAHS student council. Leaders aren’t always chosen to be captains, but in Amber’s case it was much more than simply a popularity contest.
Community service-Amber is involved in so many activities around the community we have time and space only to mention a few. She is a volunteer at Epworth Manor, a volunteer basketball coach at the YMCA, a Red Cross Blood Drive volunteer worker, a volunteer at the polls during local elections. Although many young people neglect or turn away from religion, Amber is a member of the community worship center in Tyrone.
When asked what the first thing that went thorugh her mind when her name was annonced as the award winner, Amber replied, as many of us would, “That I had to walk all the down the bleachers to stand in the middle of the floor.”
Amber plans to go on to continue her education at Penn State Altoona and although she’s not certain what she wants to major in, Amber said it would probably be something in math or science.