Contact: Jenni Brockman
Telephone: 804-443-3357 (w)
Fax: 804-443-6781
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
St. Margaret's Senior Nominated For 1999 Wendy's High School Heisman Award
Katie Farmer (r.) with Athletic Director Sue Saunders.
Katie Farmer, a St. Margaret's senior day student, has been nominated for the sixth annual Wendy's High School Heisman Award. The national award program, established by Wendy's, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and the Downtown Athletic Club of New York City, recognizes academic achievement, community service, and athletic accomplishments of high school senior men and women.
Katie, who lives in Millers Tavern, earned her nomination for the prestigious Wendy's High School Heisman Award through her well-rounded success in academics, sports, and community service at SMS. Academically, Katie has maintained an overall "A" average of 90 or above since entering SMS from Aylett Country Day School as a ninth grader. As a sophomore, Katie received the Randolph-Macon Woman's College Book Award; last year, she was inducted into the National Honor Society. Katie's civic involvement, however, best describes the good heart and strong moral character behind her leadership at SMS. Since ninth grade, Katie has been a member of Honor Council, Student Ambassadors, Vestry, and Co-editor of both The Channel (SMS yearbook) and The Tides (literary magazine), class secretary (freshman and junior year) and a multi-sport athlete. This year, Katie will play varsity field hockey, basketball, and tennis. For the past two years, Katie has been named a League of Independent Schools All Star in field hockey; last week, she helped her team win at the Steward Invitational by scoring the game winning goal in overtime against Steward in the tournament championship match. In addition, Katie has been an active member in St. Margaret's lead community service group Basic Needs, an acolyte at St. Paul's Church in Miller's Tavern, and a three-year past volunteer at the Special Olympics in Wintergreen.
Principals at the nations estimated 23,000 high schools were invited to nominate one male and one female student-citizen-athlete for the awards competition. A distinguished panel of judges, including Heisman Memorial Trophy recipients and education, business, and community leaders, will review the 102 State Award Winners and name 12 National Finalists, one male and one female representing six geographic regions. Each National Finalist will be invited to New York City to participate in the Heisman Memorial Trophy weekend festivities at the Downtown Athletic Club December 9 - 12, 1999. One male and one female will then be selected as the National Winners and honored during the Heisman Memorial Trophy national telecast on Saturday, December 11 on ESPN.
"Katie has achieved a tremendous amount of success through her involvement in academics, community service, and athletics here at St. Margaret's," says SMS headmistress Margaret Broad. "We are proud to honor Katie and recognize her as a role model in our school and an outstanding young citizen in our community."
Katie is the daughter of ViAnn and Joe Farmer of Millers Tavern.
