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 (Week of April 9, 2015)
Jessica Paley is a rare and special athlete. How else could you explain the fact that coach Ellie White chose to name the Abington senior a captain even though she was not a varsity starter until her senior year. “I have never named a non-starter a captain,” said White, who has been coaching for 21 years. “Jess didn’t really play much in 10th grade, and in 11th grade, she ran for me sometimes, but she was such a good kid. You could look at her, and you just trust her. You trust her with the younger kids, you trust her with the team, so I decided to make her a captain. The kids look up to her, the players look up to her. She’s just a great all-around kid. She’s one of those kids everyone just wants to be around.”
Paley’s positive attitude is underscored by her response when she was moved up to varsity as a sophomore but saw limited playing time. “Honestly, I did not like being on jayvee, so any opportunity I got to be on varsity – I was ready to go,” she said. “It didn’t matter to me that I didn’t get playing time. It probably killed my dad a little bit to see me sit on the bench, but I was just happy to be there. It’s such a good team to be a part of. I told coach White – ‘Put me in where you need me. If you need me to run, I’ll run. I don’t care.’ Other girls were complaining about not playing, but I really could have cared less.”
This year Paley is the starting first baseman, a sport she earned after considerable work in the offseason at open workouts with White on the high school field. “I knew we were losing our first baseman, and I wanted to grab that spot because I wanted to be somewhere I knew I would be needed,” she said. “We worked on first base stuff all summer. That was my way to make sure I was good to go for the season. It was me and a bunch of girls. (Coach White) loves to do it. She’s great, she’s so dedicated.”
And it was White that Paley went to when she heard the devastating news that her mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer at the start of her junior season. “She was my soul sister, my confidant,” Paley said. “She was really great.” The story has a happy ending – Paley’s mother is doing well, but recently, her father was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. “It’s crazy because this week last year is when my mom was diagnosed,” Paley said. “It’s like one-two punches. There’s a good prognosis for him. It’s extremely treatable, and we’re very hopeful.”
Paley, according to her coach, has handled the tough times with class. “You would never know anything was wrong,” White said. “She was strong, courageous and caring while trying to help our team in any way she could. She’s a hard-nosed, tough kid and never has an excuse for anything. She is a great leader and an even better person.”
Off the softball diamond, Paley, who is in the top 10 percent of her class, is a member of the National Honor Society. She is enrolled in several AP classes, including AP Studio Art where she is able to nurture her passion for art. Recently, one of Paley’s acrylic paintings was part of the PSEA Art Exhibit at Arcadia University. Paley plans to attend Kutztown University where she will major in communications design.
To read Paley’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/female/jess-paley-0052227
Univest’s SuburbanOneSports.com Featured Male Athlete (Week of April 9, 2015)
He is a standout senior for the undefeated Central Bucks West track and field team. He is a founding member and president of the schools’ National Art Honor Society and an award-winning artist. He is a frequent distinguished honors student boasting a 3.9 grade point average. And he listens to The Doors and Sonic Youth – music that most of his hip-hopping peers probably never even heard of. He is Andrew Baker. And he is as comfortable in his own skin as much as he is unique, taking pride in being his own person in a world of peer pressure. “I’ve always been unique in my own way,” he said. “I’ve always followed a straight and narrow path, and I just really like where I’m at right now.”
And where he is right now is at the epicenter of a special senior track season. A participant in a myriad of running events, Baker has some specific goals – individual and team – to attain before shifting his scene to the University of Vermont where he will continue to run. Baker is also intent on participating in states as part of his swan song. He is well on his way, having already qualified for districts in the mile. If Baker had a fan club, his coach – Greg Wetzel – would be a founder. It is athletes like versatile leaders of Baker’s ilk that keep coaches invigorated about what they do. “Andrew is a fine young man,” said Wetzel. “He is a pleasure to coach because he wants to be the best he can be for the team, and he consistently backs that desire up with action. Besides being versatile, what makes Andrew so valuable to us is that he gets the big picture that any great team needs great leaders to step up. His leadership has played an integral part in us finishing sixth in the state in cross country, having four relays run times that placed in the top 10 in the state indoors and starting the outdoor track and field season undefeated.”
While Baker says he is “always most comfortable with a pencil in my hands,” he is also “all over the place” with his art as he draws, stencils, charcoals and has recently gotten more into working with water colors. He specializes in distorted faces and figures. It was a portrait of Morrison that won him a prestigious Silver Key award (he also claimed honorable mention recognition).
While Wetzel nurtured Baker’s passion for running, fine arts instructor Allison Levin did the same for his artistic side, and she helped him get the school’s National Art Honor Society off the ground. The club has about 40 members who do at least 15 hours community service with art-related projects. For Levin, the immediate success of the group only affirmed Baker’s ability to lift those around him to a new level. “Andrew is a stellar young man who puts 110 percent into everything he does,” she said. “Andrew is mature, thoughtful, creative, wildly talented and a role model for others.”
Baker is looking to pursue his two passions at Vermont. “I’m thinking about architecture,” he said. “It combines art with match and science. I’ll probably major in some type of engineering and see where it leads me.”
To view Baker’s complete profile, please click on the following link: http://www.suburbanonesports.com/featured-athletes/male/andrew-baker-0052226
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