Today we were at
Mogadore High School in Ohio for the MaxPreps Citizen Athlete Award presentation by the National Guard. We were on hand to honor well-rounded student, Dawn Marie Krager for her incredible accomplishments throughout her career at Mogadore.
Mogadore sits in the shadow of Goodyear's headquarters in Akron and this was indeed a very good year for Dawn. Aside from the fact that she finished in the top five of her class, it was her community service that really caught the eyes of the folks judging this year’s nominees. She has tirelessly donated her time to work with inner city children from the Betty Jane and Harris elementary schools. There she raised money and collected gifts in cooperation with the Giving Tree Project. In school, she is the student body president and participates on the volleyball, basketball, and softball teams and the cheerleading squad. She is staying close by to attend the University of Akron.
MaxPreps rep Rich Vetok introduced the Citizen Athlete award program to the entire student body on hand for the academic all-star awards ceremony. We were fortunate to have Brigadier General Rufus Smith from the Ohio National Guard on hand to deliver the award to Dawn. Brigadier General Smith started out by congratulating Dawn’s parents for their dedication and hard work in raising such a fine student. He was joking with Dawn about how nervous she was to be on stage in front of the whole school but his genuine enthusiasm for her and her accomplishments put her at ease. He concluded his speech by handing over the National Guard Citizen Athlete Trophy to Dawn along with the National Guard certificate noting the accomplishment.
We were thrilled to have many of Dawn’s family in attendance including her mom and dad, grandmother and many aunts and uncles. It was a great day at Mogadore and Dawn’s volleyball coach and nominator summed it up the best by saying that "there was no one more deserving then Dawn for this award and she couldn’t be prouder of her student." So are we! Congratulations Dawn and best wishes at Akron U!