SuburbanOneSports.com recognizes a male and female featured athlete each week. The awards, sponsored by Univest, are given to seniors of good character who are students in good standing that have made significant contributions to their teams. Selections are based on nominations received from coaches, athletic directors and administrators.
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Female Athlete for week of Oct. 26, 2020
Carissa Van Veen knew this was going to be a far different volleyball season than she had experienced thus far in her high school career. When Pennsbury’s senior setter first stepped onto the varsity court as a sophomore, the Falcons were a young but experienced, top-tier squad with no seniors on their roster that battled for the National Conference crown. The following year, Pennsbury came back and dominated to the tune of an undefeated 18-0 league season, conference championship, and an appearance in the state quarterfinals. With nine players lost to graduation or not returning, this year’s team would look decidedly different. The 2020 squad would have only four seniors and only two with significant varsity experience. Having a veteran setter would be a key if the Falcons were to achieve any kind of success this season. “It was huge that we had Carissa coming back,” said Falcons’ coach Tim Paulson. “She has that experience, that work ethic, the understanding of what it takes to win. Aside from Carissa and Izzy (Marinelli), we have a very young team as far as varsity experience goes. Carissa is invaluable. She has that incredible work ethic, and she’s a role model as a player and a teammate.”
Van Veen understood and accepted that her final campaign for the Falcons would likely be one of rebuilding and laying the groundwork for the future. “Having lost so many people from last year, coming in this year with very few people with experience, I was already looking to this year as a growth year for this program,” she said. “It definitely was not what I was used to.” And that was before Covid threw everything—the season, the school year, life—into chaos. “It’s been very different, but for me, I’m enjoying every moment,” Van Veen said. “I get to play the game I love, I get to have a senior season, which I’ve been looking forward to for so many years, and whatever that looks like, I’m going to do my best to help my team and enjoy our time together.”
But if Van Veen is putting so much effort, heart, and energy into volleyball, she must be taking it easy in other aspects of her life, right? Not exactly. In fact, Van Veen’s course load is her most difficult in all her years of high school. She’s taking three AP classes this semester, and two AP and one Honors course next semester, all while navigating remote learning. This will be her fourth year as a committee member and second year as the Overall Chairperson of the Pennsbury High School Mini-THON, an 8-hour dance marathon in collaboration with Four Diamonds to raise money for childhood cancer treatment, research, and support. This year, in addition to planning the event, fundraisers, sponsorship, and recruitment, THON leadership is also tasked with trying to establish alternative plans should the pandemic make a regular THON impossible. Van Veen also serves as Secretary on the Student Council and is a member of Best Buddies, a club she holds close to her heart.
Wherever she may end up, there’s little doubt as to what the Falcon volleyball team, and Pennsbury High School, loses when Van Veen takes the next step on her academic journey. “I’ve known Carissa for four years now, and I’ve coached her for three,” Paulson said. “She’s been such a pleasure to work with. She’s hardworking, polite, helpful, considerate—she’s a wonderful young lady. We don’t have anybody better as a role model to look up to, not only in terms of her work ethic but all of the other activities she’s involved in. She might fly under the radar in the league. She might not be looked at by people outside the program as one of the top players returning in the league, but as far as who makes Pennsbury happen—both in volleyball and all the other extra-curriculars she’s involved in—Carissa is the one who makes us go.” Van Veen plans to major in biochemistry with her sights set on a career in pediatric medicine.
To read Van Veen’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/jojo-dalwadi-0091994
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete for week of Oct. 26, 2020
Jojo Dalwadi. Remember the name. The North Penn senior aspires to pursue a career in politics and law with his sights set on helping others by becoming a civil rights attorney and/or a government official. Nothing especially unusual about that. Many high school students have altruistic aspirations. Dalwadi, however, is hardly your typical high school student. He doesn’t just talk a good game, he lives it, suggesting he will reach his goals and then some. There’s a quote by Frank Underwood in the popular Netflix show House of Cards that is one of Dalwadi’s favorites (although he regrets it’s a fictional character that said it): “I’ve always loathed the necessity of sleep because like death it puts even the most powerful men on their backs.”
One look at Dalwadi’s lengthy resume, and it would be fair to ask whether he ever actually does sleep. The president of North Penn’s student government, Dalwadi is vice president of the Model United Nations, a student representative to the school board and one of three executive editors of The Knight Crier along with Connor Niszczak and Hannah Nguyen. “He hustles and he creates,” Knight Crier advisor Kevin Manero said. “He’s much more a man of action than a resume-building theorist. The breadth of what he does at North Penn High School is pretty remarkable, but through all of that - he’s just a great kid to talk to, and to lean on to motivate and energize those around him.”
Outside of school, he is the member engagement director of High School Democrats of Pennsylvania, he is the deputy state director for March for Our Lives, and he was an intern in the office of State Senator Katie Muth. Somehow he finds time to play for the Knights’ defending state champion soccer team. “He’s wise beyond his years,” NP coach Chris DePeppe said. “I love him as a player, but he does so much more in his life than just play soccer. I don’t think he has time to spend on the ball these other guys do, but he’s such a hard worker, and he’s so alert. He’s quick. He’s another guy that’s undersized, but as smart as he is off the field, he’s smart on the field. He pays attention, he never switches off, and he creates things out of that sheer work rate. He’s an attacking player, usually a winger, but we’ve actually put him in at center mid sometimes just to be a ball hawk and a bit of a nuisance, and he’s very good at that too because he’s so quick to the ball. I know there are big things in store for him beyond soccer.
With his sights set on a career in politics and law, Dalwadi is leaving his options open. He has given serious thought to his college options and discussed joining his sister at George Washington. “She said, ‘Come to DC, you’ll get a bunch of internships, you’ll meet a bunch of people,’” he said. “But later on I realized that leads to a trajectory of mediocrity. What I mean by that, it will get you a life a little above average. Sure, I might meet somebody who is in a high position, but ultimately, I don’t want to be the guy that knows someone, I want to be the guy that people know. I figured if we look back in history – I think a big takeaway is a lot of successful people have copied what prior successful people have done, and all of those successful people have not followed the crowd.” Dalwadi is looking to stay closer to home with Swarthmore and Haverford his top choices. Both would allow him to remain involved politically in his community and also in college life. “Why would I go to another town and throw all of that away when I can simply go to a college like Haverford or Swarthmore and build off of that and also get a degree in the profession I want to specialize in,” he said. When he runs for political office, Dalwadi already has one vote in his pocket. “Off the field, you’d think you were talking to a seasoned veteran politician,” DePeppe said. “He’s very sharp. When we were going through the COVID pandemic early on, he put together a presentation for the school board. Public speaking for most people – they fear it worse than death. He’s very comfortable, he’s very composed. He’s an impressive kid – he gets my vote today.”
To read Dalwadi’s complete profile, please click on the following link: https://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/carissa-van-veen-0091993
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