During a ceremony recently held at the Hillsborough County District Office in Tampa, Newsome High School student-athletes received the Hillsborough County Highest Grade Point Award for the 2008-2009 school year for Girls’ Basketball and Varsity Competition cheerleading and is given at the end of each sports season by the School District of Hillsborough County Athletic Department.
“It is a great honor to be recognized by the School District for having the highest team GPA,” said Newsome High School girls basketball coach Barry Jacobs. “All of the girls work extremely hard as student athletes to balance the demands of both the classroom and the basketball court. The team takes great pride in their work ethic to succeed at both.”
The three senior leaders of the basketball team that represented the school during the award ceremony were Dana Williams, Sydney Mason and Ashley Fuchs, each of whom will graduate from Newsome High School with a weighted GPA over a 5.0., and have earned the team GPA award three times (05-06, 07-08, 08-09).
“This is a testament to their parents, as to the importance of having their priorities in order,” Jacobs said. Jacobs said the in the six years of Newsome’s existence the team has experienced a lot of firsts. But this season was special with the team’s first winning season (13-11), first win on senior night and first district playoff victory. The team also had its highest finish in District play with a number three seed.
“As you can see this senior class will leave Newsome placing their stamp on our success. And with the returning players we have coming back next year, we will continue to work toward future successes,” Jacobs said.
This award was something special for cheerleading as well. Being the longest running sport, the squad was honored along with spring sports, but their grades were averaged for the entire year.
The Newsome cheer squad has 12 seniors that will be graduating and all twelve already have college plans in place. In addition to strong academics, the team finished in second place at the Western Conference Cheerleading Competition for Hillsborough County and came in fifth in the state competition.
“Being a student and an athlete is so difficult but these cheerleaders handled it so well,” said Newsome cheer leading coach April Clifton. “They were dedicated to the sport but as you can tell they were also dedicated to their education with the win of the award. This is such an outstanding accomplishment for them. I am so proud of them for keeping up with their grades.”
For more information about Newsome High School, please visit www.sdhc.k12.fl.us.
