Rachel Wnuk doesn’t seek out the spotlight, but it keeps finding her.

That will happen when a teen continually delivers in so many ways like the versatile and popular Galway Central School senior does.

“She is quiet,” Galway Booster Club president and girls’ soccer coach Rob Martin said. “She leads by work ethic and example rather than by being boisterous.”
Yet what she has done as an academic star, a three-sport team leader, and volunteer in and out of school speaks so loud, and so well of her.

Earlier this school year, Wnuk was recognized with soccer and basketball Section II Scholar-Athlete prior to being named as one of 10 high school honorees for the inaugural Capital District Sports Women of the Year awards, which also sees three college athletes recognized.

For four years she has been a National Junior Honor Society member, and she’s assembled a 99 classroom average. Among the organizations of which she belongs is Things of Our Very Own, which is a crisis intervention task force that works to assist fellow students.

“When our athletic director called me to the office my thought was, ‘What did I do wrong. What’s going on?'” the 17-year-old Wnuk said of receiving the CDSWOY award. “When she told me about it, oh my gosh, it was so incredible. I’m thinking, ‘How did this happen.'”
An inquisitive nature and willingness to dig in has helped. “I like to learn,” Wnuk said. “It fascinates me when someone says a fast fact. I have to know, ‘Where did you learn that? Where did you see that?'”

Wnuk is already taking college-level courses and is weighing between heading to RPI or SUNY Buffalo, and has a long-term goal of becoming a chemical engineer.

“Last year, I was considering the Peace Corps after high school because I love helping people,” Wnuk said. “After college, I’ll revisit that.”

“There is no doubt in my mind that Rachel has a bright and successful future ahead of her,” Galway athletic director Elise Britt said.

Wnuk serves as co-president of Galway’s Science Club and is a Student Senate member. Her vast resume also includes GTV anchor and writer for the school newspaper, Drama Club, Do Something Club, Leo’s Club and Best Buddies, which is a friendship club that pairs students with and without disabilities.

“It gets hard sometimes,” Wnuk said. “Weekends get busy, but it’s always worth it.”

“Rachel is an asset to the Galway Central School District, our community, and each program she chooses to be a part of,” Britt said. “What is striking about Rachel is her personality, empathy, and kindness. She always has a smile on her face and is always ready to reach out a helping hand.”

That reach extends to athletic circles, too. Last fall with the soccer team, Wnuk gladly shifted from forward to center midfield because she knew it would make the Eagles a more effective team. She also knew she would score fewer goals.

“She was our leading scorer as a junior,” Martin said of the two-year team captain. “We had a younger team this year and I needed her athleticism and experience at midfield. I moved her and she had no problem with that. She always tries to do the right thing for the team.”

“I just wanted to have a fun senior season and enjoy the team atmosphere,” Wnuk said. “I wanted to make memories with the girls. That was the most important thing to me.”

Along with soccer and basketball, Wnuk has lettered as a multi-event track and field performer, and as a sophomore she qualified for the outdoor state meet in the high jump. As a junior, her long list of highlights included being named Prom Queen and receiving the Rensselaer Academic Medal Scholarship.

“I want to thank all of the coaches and my parents for pushing me,” Wnuk said. “I wouldn’t be here without them.”

This article appeared in the 2020 CDSWOY Awards Program on August 18, 2020.

Lauren Willis’ plate may be full, but as the South Glens Falls junior sees things there’s always room for a little more.

So with all of her academic and athletic work and volunteer activities, the 17-year-old go-getter is also making a push these days for a girls’ ice hockey team at her high school.

“I’m in the process of starting a team. That’s one of my big things. The [Section II] athletic directors know about it, and someday, it could happen,” said Willis, who has played ice hockey in the Adirondack Youth Hockey Association since she was 2 years old. “Having a hockey team would benefit others, including my younger sisters. If I had that, I might be taking a different path.”

Willis’ has decided that field hockey will be her sport at the college level, and her studies will center around the medical field. Even further along, her objective will be to assist others like she already often does.

“I love working with younger kids,” said Willis, who is one of 10 high school honorees for the inaugural Capital District Sports Women of the Year awards, which also sees three college athletes recognized.

Willis lends her ice hockey and field hockey knowledge to youngsters in and out of school, and come Christmas time, you’ll find her ringing a Salvation Army bell, and wrapping gifts and passing them along as part of the Ben Osborn Fund.

“You don’t realize how many people in your community need help,” Willis said. “It opens your eyes and makes you not take what you have for granted.”
What Willis has is an awfully bright future, and a resume that’s already full of athletic and academic accomplishments, like honor roll recognition every year since 2017 and a spot on the all-state field hockey team in 2018.

“My dad [Jeffrey] has high expectations, and I want to exceed them all,” Willis said. “From now on, the work doesn’t stop. I want to keep going.”

Willis is a member of the Spanish Honor Society and National Honors Society and has earned scholar-athlete status in field hockey, lacrosse, and bowling.
” Academics are very important to her as can be seen by her 94.18 GPA,” South Glens Falls athletic director Matt Griep said. “It’s nearly impossible to look through her transcripts and find a teacher that hasn’t stated she’s a pleasure to have in class, strives to do her best, or displays a positive attitude.”

That positive attitude has helped Willis thrive as a field hockey player. Among her stats that stand out are 10 successful penalty strokes after missing the first one she attempted during her freshman season.

“I talk to myself,” Willis said. “I’m always saying, ‘I got this. I can do this.'”

Willis scored 17 goals this past fall season, and for the third time was selected a first-team Foothills Council field hockey all-star and her team’s most valuable player. The center midfielder captained the Bulldogs as both a sophomore and junior.

“Lauren is a natural leader,” South Glens Falls field hockey coach Mary Ponda said. “This characteristic was very much evident during her freshman year on the varsity team. With a strong group of seniors, Lauren did not hesitate to speak up when needed, whether she was asked to or not. I knew that she would be capable of handling the leadership role and was elected team captain every year thereafter.”

Willis will be leading offseason practices before the fall field hockey season, which she is already looking forward to. She’ll be joined by her younger sisters Jillian and Lillian.

“It’s going to be some fun games,” Lauren Willis said.
Willis played on the South Glens Falls boys’ ice hockey team for four years before shifting to bowling as a junior.

“Because it’s always go, go, go, I did bowling to kind of relax,” Willis said. “Plus, it gave me more time to work out, and work on my field hockey and lacrosse skills.”
Willis enjoys cooking and often makes a ziti dish for team meals. She also enjoys painting.

“It’s the time where I let out everything,” Willis said.
This article appeared in the 2020 CDSWOY Awards Program on August 18, 2020.

As a sprinter, Lydia Ware is one of the most decorated competitors in Averill Park track and field history.

On her own merit, she’s got individual school records in four different events — the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes outdoors, and the 55-meter and 400-meter dashes indoors — and qualified for the state championships during both the indoor and outdoors seasons.

But for Ware, it’s the six Averill Park relay records she holds a share of — three indoors, three outdoors — that mean so much more.

“It’s more than you,” Ware said. “It’s you working with your friends, and I think that’s cooler than just individual records. I have a couple of relay records with my friends, and that’s super cool. You get to practice together, and then when you get to a meet and you know you broke a school record, it’s the most exciting feeling in the world.”

Ware, who also competes for Averill Park in soccer and is the valedictorian of the school’s Class of 2020, is one of 10 high school honorees for the inaugural Capital District Sports Women of the Year awards, which also sees three college athletes recognized.

She’s had a record-setting career on the track for the Warriors, reaching the state meet in the 55 meters during the indoor season and both the 100 and 200 meters outdoors. She also earned a third-place finish at the indoor state meet as a member of Section II’s intersectional medley relay team.

“I’ve been to the state meet a couple of times,” Ware said. “That’s always a really cool experience, and I’m proud of that, because it takes a lot of extra work and time.”

But for all her athletic accomplishments, Ware’s biggest focuses have always been in the classroom and the community.

Academically, in addition to being her class valedictorian, Ware is a member of the National Honor Society and participated in the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth program, where she earned High Honors after finishing in the top 30% of selected students.

She plans to attend Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, where she’ll run track and study medicine.
“Track is really exciting, but it’s not the biggest part of my life,” she said. “I work really hard outside of practice to make sure I’m getting all the stuff done that I need to do.”

Ware said she relies on a strong community network to keep balance in her life.

“There’s a lot of people that I’m friends with that overlap between school and track,” she said. “I have people on the track team who are in my classes, and we all get together and have study parties and help each other out.”

In addition to serving on the Averill Park Student-Athlete Advisory Council and co-founding the APHS Science Club, Ware is a dedicated volunteer at Brunswick Church, which she’s attended “since probably a couple days after I was born.” At her church, Ware is heavily involved in Music Ministries, Child Nurture Ministries and Vacation Bible School.
It’s her way of giving back to a community that’s given so much to her.

“The fact that I’ve grown up with all those people makes it even more special that they’re sharing all of my life’s events with me and I’m sharing all of their life events with them,” Ware said. “I love all the people in my church, and it’s really important to me to give back to them, since they’ve given so much to me since I was a young child. I think that’s what they deserve. I’m really happy to be giving them everything I can.”
This article appeared in the 2020 CDSWOY Awards Program on August 18, 2020.