<p>My HS freshman D, told me that the senior who got the most awards at her school, is a goofy (her word) looking jock. It was a surprise to her.
It was an opportunity for me, to remind her of the cliche "Don't judge a book by its cover" :)
The boy, who happened to be one of her peer leaders, is one of the jokers in the school.
He got the sport award, the highly coveted classics award and the English award.
BTW, the kids who get the classics award usually are the ones who took Latin and Greek for about eight years.
The sport award is usually awarded to a kid who plays two or three sports.</p>
<p>Although your point about not judging a book by its cover is well taken…when the HS starts giving all the awards to a Goth kid, or to the introverted intellectual who isn’t a joiner and likes to read, I’ll be surprised. HS jocks, goofy or not, are visible in a way that is approved of by the HS power structure.</p>
<p>^mathson got a technology award almost all for stuff done outside of school, a physics award and at various times math awards, mostly related to his AMC scores, but not just the AMC award. I’m curious about S2 who is up for an award this year. I’m guessing it might be a junior book award, but we’ll have to wait and see. He’s a pretty quiet kid - but he did join the literary magazine, Science Olympiad and is in the orchestra, so he’s not a complete unknown either.</p>
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<p>As long as they actually get involved with things at the school and develop relationships with teachers and administrators such that their abilities become more well known I don’t think the school would have a problem handing it out to them.</p>
<p>A lot of athletes are top students. A lot of athletes are active in their communities. A lot of vals and sals are athletes. Sadly, many on CC assume that most athletes at elite colleges are underqualified.</p>
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<p>Ah, but developing relationships with teachers and administrators is precisely the point. The pleasers get awards. The rebellious or independent or in some cases simply reserved do not. For example, take a pair of twins I know. The similarities: both varsity athletes, both get good grades, both well-behaved. The differences: one male, one female; one taking honors/AP classes, the other CP classes; one outgoing, one reserved. Guess which one was inducted into NHS as a junior?</p>
<p>Hint: not the one in honors/AP classes.</p>
<p>Almost 80% kids at our HS play some sort of varsity sports. Often top students are also top athletes - Div I. I imagine that’s why the school’s college placement is so good.</p>
<p>Consolation, rarely do the athletes get the most awards. They are indeed very visible but to get the classics award it means that the kid probably entered a national Latin competition in which he did very well.<br>
BTW, the kid who got the most awards last year was a loner. He spent 13 years at the school. Had only one friend, and never quite feel comfortable at the school according to my oldest D.</p>
<p>Amazing story. Would read again.</p>
<p>At the college where I work, student-athletes have a composite GPA > 3.1 - higher than the rest of the student body. They also are retained and graduate at higher levels than the rest of the student body. Student-athletes, if nothing else, generally learn to budget their time. It’s a skill that can pay off in every area of their lives.</p>
<p>At our school, NHS is often for those who have multi-level involvement and in reality, academics is only one small piece. In terms of school awards in general, some awards honor the multi-talented. The Goth or quiet intellectual may, in fact, be very singular in their focus. </p>
<p>Son has taken Latin since 8th grade. The girl who won the Latin award last year was involved in the classics outside of school. However, my son has the reputation of being one of the strongest Latin students in the school but he would have no time to involve himself further even if he thought he would like it and/or do well. </p>
<p>I do find myself unusually offended on CC that there is such little expectation of the scholar athlete. Not all DI players or DIII for that matter are meat-heads who don’t excel academically. Son is All Conference in two sports, Capt of two. He maintains an excellent GPA, takes all honors and AP’s and has even taken on being in a theatre production as well. Having the same stats while taking dance, being year book editor and president of the diversity club is certainly not less impressive, but it’s not more impressive either. If how good you did in school was the only litmus of success in life, there’d be a lot LESS successful people. </p>
<p>I always liked the interpretation of Mel Levine who said (and I am paraphrasing hugely) that not everyone can be an academie generalist and to determine intellectual worth based on booksmarts alone would terribly underestimate the true genius of a kid.</p>
<p>^^ Modadunn, slamming student-athletes is a favorite pastime on CC. Not all of us feel that way, and, hopefully, not even MOST of us. I, too, had a student/athlete who was recruited for his sport but unable to participate in college due to injury. He was mid-range in stats for his highly-selective college and has done extremely well academically.</p>
<p>My youngest was a state ranked athlete. When he got a full tuition scholarship to a top 25 school, most assumed it was for his sport. It was not.</p>
<p>I think people want to think that athletes don’t excell in other areas.</p>
<p>As the parent of a baseball player who is also academically gifted, the negative attitude towards jocks on CC always drives me nuts. </p>
<p>Athletes can also be great students - here is a story about a young man who went to high school in our area who has succeeded in both college baseball and in academics:</p>
<p>[UNLV</a> OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE - Student-Athlete Academic Services](<a href=“http://unlvrebels.cstv.com/sports/saas/spec-rel/041508aaa.html]UNLV”>http://unlvrebels.cstv.com/sports/saas/spec-rel/041508aaa.html)</p>
<p>Here are a few excerpts from that article:</p>
<p>" … baseball player Kyle Kretchmer… was named UNLV’s most outstanding male scholar-athlete for the second straight year… Kretchmer is majoring in kinesiological sciences as he completes requirements for medical school. This year, he received an invitation to join Phi Kappa Phi, a prestigious academic honor society. His overall GPA is 3.95…"</p>
<p>Want to guess what high school activity has the highest correlation with being a VP in adult life?</p>
<p>Yes, cheerleader</p>
<p>[Don’t</a> Look Now But Your “High School Status” Can Predict One’s Future Success | HyerStandard.com](<a href=“http://hyerstandard.com/2008/07/11/dont-look-now-but-your-high-school-status-can-predict-ones-future-success/]Don’t”>http://hyerstandard.com/2008/07/11/dont-look-now-but-your-high-school-status-can-predict-ones-future-success/)</p>
<p>I believe one of the reasons my S began involvement with JV/V teams at the HS level was to soften up a bit the sharp edge on his academic side. In other words, I think he understood the value of some roundedness without having to read a book about it. </p>
<p>Two of his closest friends (the kind that are likely to be for life) come from the water polo/swim team. The teams get a kick out of S being the math whiz so he can help them with math, which he enjoys doing. It all seems good for him.</p>
<p>Let’s also not forget that there are quiet intellectual athletes, and Goth athletes (I’ve known both). :)</p>
<p>Really, it seems unsurprising to me that someone with the discipline to excel at, or even participate in on a long-term basis, one or more sports, would be a good student. I thought that having done varsity cross-country for four years in high school was great preparation for college, in terms of learning to pace myself, developing work ethic, developing perseverance, learning to deal with setbacks, and so on.</p>
<p>My little brother, who is a sophomore in HS, is the epitome of a jock. He’s on three varsity sports teams (two of which he was also on last year), has been playing baseball and hockey since he could walk, and was on multiple basketball teams and ran cross-country in middle school. He’s very reserved and quiet around people he doesn’t know, and just by looking at him and knowing he’s a jock, you’d never guess that he hasn’t gotten a grade below an A- in mostly honors classes since he started high school, or that one of his goals is to get an 800 on his math SAT (which he probably will do).</p>
<p>So- just like the title of the thread says- don’t underestimate that jock! (:</p>
<p>My middle son was a 3 year varsity athlete in 3 sports, one of which he is playing in college (they go to the national tournament next week :D). He was also a valedictorian, won the outstanding student award his junior year, was a member of NHS, was an Academic All State in 2 of his sports, etc. He now maintians a 3.7 gpa while competing in his sport in college (a tough thing to do because of the time committments).</p>
<p>True story - he has always gone by his middle name since birth, but on all the “Honor Rolls” that were published during his high school years, the name used was his first name, so noone knew what kind of student he was, they just knew that he was a big jock. So, at the awards ceremony where the vals were introduced, we had many people come up to us astonished that our son was one of them. We heard things like, “I never knew @@ was smart.” haha - He was a stealth student!!</p>
<p>Don’t underestimate the jocks!! ;)</p>
<p>Many gifted students are athletes. Many athletes are not gifted students. If you’re a parent of an athlete who also excels academically, I can understand how frustrating it would be to hear people talk about athletic “tips” and how so-and-so got into an elite college “just because” he/she was an athlete.</p>
<p>But the fact remains that for some sports at many schools, a gifted athlete does not need to have the same academic qualifications as his/her non-athlete classmate. I think football and hockey are often singled out in this respect.</p>
<p>Speaking of hockey players, though, here’s another example of a very gifted student who happens to be a talented jock.</p>
<p>[Student-athlete</a> Mark Anderson wins 1819 Award - Colgate University News](<a href=“http://blogs.colgate.edu/2009/05/studentathlete-mark-anderson-w.html]Student-athlete”>http://blogs.colgate.edu/2009/05/studentathlete-mark-anderson-w.html)</p>
<p>The 1819 award is one’s of Colgate’s most prestigious.</p>