On March 4th, NWC held its first semi-formal since the fall of 2019. Without a doubt, this is the most normal thing that our girls have done in two years. They each went to a pre-party and then danced the night away without masks, having a great time (although no outside guests were allowed). It is so exciting to see this return to normalcy and to see them enjoying "normal" high school events!
After a long and exhaustive process, Elizabeth's college search is finally over. She applied to eight colleges and received seven acceptances, one deferral; of those seven acceptances, she received significant merit scholarships from six schools, including Wheaton College, St. Louis University, Loyola Chicago and St. John's University. It took a lot of soul searching, but Elizabeth finally made her decision and will be attending the University of New Haven. She received a Presidential Scholarship and Honors Program invitation, and was offered admission to its dual degree program (BS+MS), so in five years, she will graduate with a masters degree in National Security - Intelligence Analysis. The icing on the cake is that attending UNH gives Elizabeth the chance to be with her first love - lacrosse - as she received and accepted an offer to play Division II lacrosse at UNH as well. We are incredibly proud of her, who knew what she wanted from day one and didn't give up until she got it. We are so grateful to the teachers, coaches and administrators who provided her with wonderful advice and guidance along the way.
Elizabeth's final indoor track season came to a close a few weeks ago and it was such an emotional ride for her. Despite her love of lacrosse, I think that track might actually be her favorite sport. This year, she qualified for states as a member of the 4x200 relay team and individually in the 55m dash. Her goal has always been to grow the program, and any runner being successful is the best way to do that. She was a tremendous captain this season (her third year captaining this team), with several parents reaching out to her at the end of the season to thank her for guiding their daughters. We are so incredibly proud of her success this season, as well as her leadership. We wish that she would have had the opportunity to compete last year, but she definitely made the most of the opportunities that she was given.
The Indoor Track season has come to a close and it was a moderately successful one for Emily. She qualified for states as part of the 4x200 relay, but did not qualify in the 55m or the 300m, which was both disappointing and frustrating for her. She initially ran the 55m dash on a lark, never thinking that she had the speed to qualify - and missed the state mark by .1 second. She then ran it at every meet for the rest of the reason - and continued to run almost the exact same time in every race; she just could not shave that .1 off of her time, no matter how much work she put into her starts and her form. The 300m dash presented a different kind of frustration, as it was an event that she thought that she would be successful in but was only able to run twice, due to various circumstances. The first time she ran it was on a small track, after four other events over 12 hours. The second time she ran it was 6 weeks later, under good conditions, but without the race history to run smart, although she did shave more than 3 seconds off of her initial time. We are hopeful that she can improve her speed before next year and feel better about her individual track performances. As a member of the relay, she did a great job and we are happy that she and Elizabeth were able to run together and be teammates for this last season.
The first weekend in December, after less than a handful of practices, Emily and her Sporting team played in the FC Stars Showcase in Massachusetts. They won two games and tied the third 0-0, a successful weekend overall. It was nice to see the girls back together for the first time since August, and to see them build off of successful high school seasons. They start their indoor season this weekend and we assume that as long as the weather is not too cold or snowy, we will see several outdoor friendlies prior to the beginning of the spring season.
