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For
Immediate Release
Contact: Jody Meacham, 408 / 288-2934, jody@sjsa.org
SAN JOSE (May 12, 2004) – Six
Santa Clara County high school seniors were awarded
REACH Youth Scholarships at a breakfast today, which
honored a 31 local students who have overcome adversity
to excel in both academics and athletics.
NFL Hall of
Famer Ronnie Lott, honorary chair, and San Jose State
basketball player Lamisha Augustine
gave out $10,000 in scholarship awards on behalf
of presenting sponsor Bridge Bank, with support from
Hewlett-Packard,
Cal-Hi Sports Bay Area, Southwest Airlines and the
San Jose Marriott, host of the breakfast. REACH is
an acronym for Recognizing Excellence, Adversity,
Courage and Hard work, in its 10th year as a program
of the
San Jose Sports Authority.
"We are proud to honor all
31 nominees for this year’s
REACH Youth Scholarships," said Dean Munro,
executive director of the San Jose Sports Authority.
"Each is a young person who has overcome tremendous
obstacles
in his or her personal life through participation in
school athletics, and as a supporter of youth sports
in our community, the Sports Authority is proud to
spotlight their achievements."
Teachers, counselors and
coaches from each high school in Santa Clara County
were asked to nominate students
who they felt matched the scholarship criteria. Students
submitted essays detailing how they were able to
overcome adversity and the role that sports played
in helping
them do so. A panel of local community leaders reviewed
the essays and selected the six scholarship recipients,
who received scholarships ranging from $1,000 to
$2,500 (list of recipients follows).
For event photographs
and further information, please call the San Jose
Sports Authority.
Scholarship Award Winners
(award citations by Master of Ceremonies
Robert Braunstein):
Jackie Cimino – Presentation
High School ($2,500)
Cimino loved horses. Really loved
them. At 13 she convinced her parents to give her horseback
riding
lessons and promised to work to pay for them. She volunteered
at the stables mucking stalls, cleaning hooves, saddling
and caring for 40 horses. For every four hours she
worked, she received half an hour of free riding time.
Because of her love for horses, she was offered a free
rodeo horse named Baxter. Seven months later, she and
Baxter competed in their first rodeo competition and
later joined the National High School Rodeo Association.
They were ready for serious competitions by her sophomore
year. The rodeo they entered the day before her 16th
birthday was tragic. She was injured in the goat-tying
competition and airlifted to Stanford Hospital, where
she lay unconscious for three weeks. When she awoke,
she learned that her spinal cord had been damaged and
she was paralyzed from the chest down. Although she
deeply missed rodeo, she said she ``did not have time
to be negative.’’ After intense rehabilitation
at Valley Medical Center, she was introduced to wheelchair
tennis. Just seven months after the accident, she played
in her first tournament. Today, only two years after
her accident, she has traveled across the country to
compete in tennis, played on her high school varsity
tennis team, and even played doubles with able-bodied
players. She is 10th in the nation in the junior wheelchair
open division, No. 4 in the women’s A’s
division and has been awarded the tennis chair from
the SCORE Foundation. In her spare time, she visits
Valley Medical Center to talk to newly injured adolescents.
This fall she will enter the University of Arizona
where she will participate in collegiate wheelchair
tennis.
Brad Kompelien – Willow
Glen High School ($2,000)
Kompelien dreamed of being a major
league baseball
player all his life. But when he was diagnosed with
osteo sarcoma – bone cancer – and had to
have the lower half of his leg amputated in the sixth
grade, he wasn’t sure if he would ever be able
to play sports again. Twenty-two rounds of chemotherapy
took a further toll. Doctors said it was likely he
would have learning disabilities. Learning how to walk
again and working his way out of a limp was the most
difficult task of his life. He entered high school
determined to find a sport he could play, which didn’t
require running. A friend suggested golf, which he
had never played, but he tried out anyway and made
the team. But being on the team wasn’t enough.
Kompelien worked hard and by his junior year had climbed
to No.2 on his team, helping it win the Blossom Valley
Athletic League Championship. His battle with cancer
opened his eyes to a seeing life in a new light. He
has found peace throughout his day and no longer worries
about what happens around him because of his faith
in God. He once viewed cancer as a burden, but now
realizes that it has shaped the foundation of his life
and personality. Today, he is a student leader in his
church youth group and a member of his school’s
yearbook committee. He also spends time helping others
by making meals at a homeless shelter and tutoring
elementary school children. He has beaten the odds
against both cancer and participating in sports. His
doctors will be happy to hear that not only does he
have a 3.7 grade-point-average, but he is also a member
of the National Honor Roll. Although he has already
had to endure tremendous challenges, they have prepared
him for overcoming those that lie ahead in life and
on the golf course.
Mallory Stein – Willow
Glen High School ($1,750)
Until high school Stein had been
suppressing terrible memories that stood between her
and a full life. An
essay for English class her junior year finally allowed
her to write about the childhood abuse she had been
hiding inside. Her courage allowed her to face down
her demon in court, removing him from society and protecting
others from his abuse. Coming out about her problems
set her free, but at the same time brought forth other
challenges. Revealing her secrets affected her confidence
and concentration, making everyday tasks, school – even
sleep – difficult. There were two positive forces
in her world of uncertainty: her passion for field
hockey and support from her mother. Field hockey allowed
her to escape problems from the moment she stepped
onto the field. Her drive to score goals displaced
all her troubles. Once she stepped off the field and
back into the world where her difficulties lay, her
mom was always there to help.
But in January, her mom
died unexpectedly. As Stein tries now to cope with
her loss, field hockey continues
to bring her joy. In addition to being the captain
of the varsity field hockey team, this amazing young
woman works about 20 hours a week, is president of
both the Hilltop 4-H Club and the AGAPE Christian
Club, and has won numerous awards. Despite what life
has
thrown her, she is able to look back and be proud
of the free, strong young woman she has become.
Mikaela
Gillette – Presentation High School
($1,500)
Gillette first fell in love with softball after
meeting Mike McCormick, a Cy Young award winner and
former
San Francisco Giant. From then on, she dreamed of becoming
a pitcher and playing softball in college. She was
well on her way, joining a competitive travel team
at 11 years old and advancing to a 17-year-old team
when she was only 14. But a serious injury during a
Sunday morning game threw her dream into jeopardy.
The bone deformation in her hip, coupled with the stress
of softball, tore the labrum – cartilage that
stabilizes the hip joint. The surgeries required to
repair her hip were dangerous – they might get
her back on the softball diamond, but they could also
leave her paralyzed. Gillette made it back to the field.
After months of physical therapy she was able to make
it back onto her high school softball team. Despite
the two-hour physical therapy sessions she attended
three times each week, she had the highest academic
grades she had ever made. She returned to the team
her senior year and was named captain.
Today, she is a
contender for starting positions at either second or
third base, and she will be part of
her team’s success should it make the CCS Championships.
When she’s not on the field, she is the secretary
for the Almaden Library & Community Center Advisory
Board, a member of the Math Society and the California
Scholarship Federation. She also received the 2003
Good Neighbor Award from Mayor Ron Gonzalez and is
one of the Founding Members of the teen center ``The
Spot.’’
Katie Peek – Santa
Clara High School ($1,250)
Hearing loss, short term memory lapses,
speech impediments, imbalance and poor motor skills
were all problems Peek
had to deal with growing up because of her brain stem
and auditory processing disorders. Things we all take
for granted, like walking and remembering the alphabet,
were very difficult for her. While her brother and
sister participated in activities like karate and gymnastics,
she spent her time in speech therapy and occupational
therapy learning to hold a pencil correctly. Her lack
of balance often caused her to fall down and made her
the object of other kids’ laughter. Peek took
her mother’s advice: ``Put one foot in front
of the other or sit out and watch everyone else having
fun’’ Mom told her. She did and turned
her life around. She learned to play the flute. She
made it within one level of a black belt in karate.
She swam with the Santa Clara Aquamaids. Most important,
she learned to laugh with the other kids. The first
time she beat her brother at basketball she fell in
love with that sport. She was determined to defy the
odds and play high school basketball, and by her sophomore
year, she had become a starter. She now plays tennis
and badminton for her school and is involved in her
church youth group. She’s also been on the honor
roll for four years and is on the Who’s Who List
for high school students. She plans on going back for
her black belt some day, but for now, driving is her
next challenge.
Katie Dee – Santa Teresa
High School ($1,000)
Dee first learned to overcome obstacles
her freshman year at when her aunt – who had been her hero
and rock – lost a 10-year battle with cancer.
Watching her aunt during the last three months of her
life and dealing with her loss was extremely difficult,
but she was able to find a distraction in softball.
For the two hours she was on the field, all her troubles
disappeared. Last year, Dee was faced with another
life-altering challenge. Her abdomen had grown abnormally
large. Doctors diagnosed ovarian cancer and rushed
her to surgery. They removed a 15-pound tumor the size
of a basketball along with her ovary. The severity
of the surgery forced her to sit out of school and
sports for six weeks. But although her rehabilitation
limited her to just 10 minutes a day on a stationary
bike, her determination to get back onto the field
motivated her to step up to the challenge. Last November
she turned to softball once again for escape when her
grandfather suffered a stroke, which left him paralyzed
from the waist down. Today, Dee is a member of the
National Honor Society, GATE and is on the principal’s,
presidential and superintendent’s lists. She
coaches a youth soccer team, tutors and participates
in Relay For Life. She won her softball team’s
Best Offense award and plans on attending the University
of California, San Diego. Throughout all of life’s
obstacles, softball has helped through the hard times
and kept her focused, driven and determined.
2004 REACH Youth Scholarship nominees:
Hassan Abdullahi, Live Oak High School
Hussein
Abdullahi, Live Oak High School
Jackie Cimino, Presentation
High School
Brijitti Crum, Eastside College Prep
Robert Deauville, Branham High School
Katie Dee, Santa Teresa High School
Michelle Di Fiore, Gilroy High School
Desalegn Ejigu, Santa Clara High School
Mikaela Gillette, Presentation High School
Nancy Gonzalez, William C. Overfelt
High School
Noelle Guiriba, Independence High School
Ally Ha, Andrew
P. Hill High School
Bradley Kompelien, Willow Glen High
School
Jenessa Lee Locklin, Santa Clara High High School
Jeffrey
Lyu, Saratoga High School
Bryan Mai, Gunderson High School
Jose Martinez, Eastside
College Prep
Jennifer Navala, Santa Teresa High School
Julie Nguyen, Andrew P. Hill High School
Candace Nisby, Santa Clara
High School
Melissa Norman, Santa Teresa High School
Katie Peek, Santa
Clara High School
Esmeralda Rangel, William C. Overfelt
High School
Edson Sanchez, San Jose High Academy
Monica Sandoval, William C. Overfelt High School
Kristen Scheff, Westmont
High School
Haruki Shimoda, Fremont High School
Ashley Spelman, Fremont
High School
Mallory Stein, Willow Glen High School
Cesar Misael Tirado, Eastside College Prep
Jennifer Tran, Palo Alto High School
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