Discus Award Winner
Winners Gallery
Amanda Obenland
12th Grade, MD
ATTRIBUTES
Faith
I was on the Peer Ministry team at my Catholic church last year and plan to participate again this year. This was a very good thing to do to be involved in the church because the Peer Ministry Team plans retreats and bi-monthly get togethers so the teenagers in the parish can bond. Last year, I was able to help run the Fire and Ice Retreat which is held in February and includes any High Schooler that wishes to attend. The purpose of this retreat is to bring a wide variety of people closer to God. This helped me to be a closer person to God because I could give testament to others and reaffirm my faith. I reallly enjoy talking in front of people, which was very useful at this event. Also, I am a very outgoing person so it is in my comfort zone to talk to others about what I believe.
Academics
I am very concerned with my academics. In fact, I have not gotten anything less than an A in high school! To me, anything less is unacceptable. I have a very high code of ethics and will not stoop to cheating to boost my grade. I take responsibility for what I achieve; my grades are indicative of this. I enjoy helping other people with their schoolwork because it makes me feel like I am putting my good knowledge to use for someone other than me. I am very diligant in making sure that I get good grades by doing all of my homework, every night. I never really think of not doing my homework as an option. It is something I am required to do. This is part of the reason why I am such a good student-I do what I am told to do and so I learn all I need to learn.
Athletics
I have been on a swim team since I was eight. As a younger swimmer, I excelled and made it to Divisionals. As I got older, I was not so much on the high end of swimmers on my summer team but that was fine. I swam for the fun of swimming. When I entered high school, I made the varsity team freshman year. As I progressed through my four years at Damascus High School and many of the fast swimmers graduated, I gradually worked my way up to being one of the top three girl swimmers on the team. This past school year, I was able to make the Divisioinal, Reigional, and State Competitions. I also attended the Metropolitan Swimming and Diving Championships which require swimmers to make a certain time cut to participate in.
