Beth Irwin

With plenty of time on her hands last year because of restrictions related to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Guilderland High School’s Beth Irwin put her sewing talents to good use.

She helped sew over 100 facemasks for people living in a 65-and-over senior living facility.

Irwin, a rising senior who competes in cross country, Nordic skiing and track and field, is one of 10 high school award recipients for the Capital District Sports Women of the Year.

“It was very nice [to do], especially with school just not existing at the end of last year,” Irwin said. “It was kind of [like] I had so much going on yesterday, and now there’s nothing for, like, two weeks. I like keeping busy. I purposely scheduled myself to keep busy. I picked up sewing as a thing to do. Making masks for everyone was a really good way to fill time and didn’t require learning too many new skills.

“I’ve been sewing in the past, but I just finally had some time to do it, and it was nice to be able to help people somehow.”

Irwin, who recently finished her junior year of high school, enjoys sewing.

“I’ve been able to do it more recently, thanks, kind of, due to the pandemic, which was nice,” Irwin said. “I’ve been sewing since third grade pretty actively.”

Besides making facemasks, Irwin has served as a Girl Scouts Ambassador, served meals at the soup kitchen at Temple Beth Emeth, helped a local business clean and rebuild its facility and has completed nearly 200 hours of service in her three years at Guilderland High School.

In the classroom, Irwin has a 97 grade-point average while taking honors, AP and college courses. She received an Academic Excellence in Spanish 4 Award, as well as numerous NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete Awards.

Athletically, Irwin ranked second out of 65 student-athletes in cross country and was the recipient of the 100% Award, as well as the 300+ Miles Award. In Nordic ski, she was the MVP in each of the last two seasons and was also the captain of that team this past season.

“Beth has been a very dedicated student-athlete over the last three years on the XC Ski Team,” Guilderland Nordic ski head coach Barb Newton wrote in a nomination letter. “She has been a role model for the other skiers on the team with her love and commitment to the sport.

“She has been crucial in recruiting skiers to the program, helping new skiers with technique, and her enthusiasm for XC skiing has been a plus for the program. It’s like having another coach on the team.”

Irwin is excited to be one of the 10 scholastic award recipients.

“It’s really cool,” Irwin said.