Ethan Lee and Meg Bartley Earn the WBOC/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete of the Year Honors

(Georgetown, DE) – On Friday, June 3^rd, Mountaire Farms hosted Waging War on Hunger, Hurt & Hate, a fundraiser banquet benefiting the Mountaire Thanksgiving for Fund at the Delaware Community Foundation. The event, held at the CHEER Center in Georgetown, Delaware, featured the 2010-2011 WBOC/Mountaire Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards, capping off the 3^rd year of the WBOC/Mountaire Scholar Athlete of the Month program.  A program designed to highlight and honor the outstanding student athletes on the Delmarva Peninsula.

Prior to the award ceremony, the180 plus in attendance were treated to a buffet dinner and keynote address from Coach for America Speaker, Joe Ehrmann.  Ehrmann, a 13 year NFL Veteran and subject of the NY Times Bestseller, A Season of Life, spoke on the importance of building relationships and the fundamental principles of how to grow boys into men and girls into women.  His impassioned speech received a standing ovation from the crowd; comprised mostly of local non-profit groups, politicians, community leaders, youth organizations and the families of the Scholar Athlete honorees.  

Following the keynote address, Roger Marino, Corporate Community Director for Mountaire Farms and WBOC Sports Director, Scott Abraham, took turns highlighting the ten Scholar Athlete of the Month winners while Mountaire President Paul Downes presented each one with a gift bag and t-shirt.

This year’s ten monthly winners were: 

September – Ethan Lee of Seaford High School in Seaford, DE;
October –LeighAnne Flounlacker of Stephen Decatur High School in Berlin, MD;
November – Brandon Farmer of Lake Forest High School in Felton, DE;
December – Elizabeth Freud of St. Thomas More Prep. School in Magnolia, DE;
January – Kasey Tapman of Pocomoke High School in Pocomoke, MD;
February – Collan VanEss of Mardela High School in Mardela, MD;
March – Meg Bartley of Cape Henlopen High School in Lewes, DE;
April – Mallorie Parsons of Delmarva Christian High School in Georgetown, DE;
May – Andrew Mlynarksi of St. Peters and Paul High School in Easton, MD;
June – Quinn Abbott of Milford High School in Milford, DE.

WBOC and Mountaire Farms selected these young men and women as some of the best and brightest high school seniors on Delmarva from of hundreds of nominations sent in via schools, coaches and proud parents; each one having excelled on the field, in the classroom and in the community throughout their entire high school careers.  All averaged a GPA of 3.5 or better, captained at least two varsity sports and accumulated hundreds of hours in extra-curricular activities.  For their efforts each monthly winner received an engraved crystal trophy, a banner to display in the halls of their school and a $1,000 scholarship. Their individual stories were also featured in a WBOC-TV newscast.  All ten student athletes were then eligible to become the Scholar Athletes of Year and receive additional $2,500 college scholarships.

Out of these ten extraordinary individuals, one male and one female were selected to receive the 2010-2011 WBOC/Mountaire Scholar Athlete of the Year Award.  This year the honor went to Ethan Lee of Seaford High School and Meg Bartley of Cape Henlopen High School.

Ethan Lee completed perfection during his senior year at Seaford High, finishing up a four year academic career without a single blemish earning a 4.35 GPA and a class rank of 2^nd out of 146.  His impressive resume also includes time served as Student Government Vice President and Senior Class President, as well as volunteer work with the American Red Cross and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. 

On the field Ethan was nearly perfect as well.  As the star captain of the school’s soccer team, Ethan was selected to the All-Conference & All-State teams, and was rated as one of the top players in the state of Delaware.  His skills earned him an invitation to participate in Delaware’s Olympic Development program for soccer.  Aside from soccer, Ethan ran Winter Track and earned All-Conference and All-State recognition as a tennis player. 

Meg Bartley was one of the top female athletes in the state of Delaware, starring on three varsity teams for the Cape Henlopen Vikings.  As a field hockey player she helped deliver two conference championships and was a 2^nd team All-Conference selection.   On the basketball court she was the team captain and again earned 2^nd team All-Conference honors.  But it was on the lacrosse field where Meg completely dominated the competition.  The team captain helped deliver multiple State Championships and was named 1^st team All-State and 1^st team All-American in the process.

The highly acclaimed athlete was also as star in the classroom and in her community.  With a schedule full of Advanced Placement and Honors courses, Meg still managed a cumulative weighted GPA of 94.66%, which placed her 33^rd in a class of 220.  Outside the classroom she has done work for Save the Coast Fundraiser as well as several projects as a member of the Leo Club and National Grange.  But most of her time was spent as a member of the FFA, Future Farmers of America, where she has served as treasurer and reporter for the organization. 

The 2011-2012 WBOC/Mountaire Scholar Athlete of the Month program will kick-off in August when nominations for the ’11-’12 calendar school year will be accepted.  For more details on the program visit www.wboc.com or www.mountaire.com/scholarathlete/  

About the WBOC/Mountaire Scholar Athlete Program:

Each month the WBOC/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete will receive a $1,000 scholarship along with an engraved, crystal trophy, recognizing him/her as the monthly honoree.  Monthly winners are also featured in a 2-3 minute vignette with WBOC Sports Director Scott Abraham (at his/her school).  This vignette will spotlight the WBOC/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete's academic and athletic performance and be aired on WBOC-TV/FOX21 and featured on the WBOC-TV Sports Web site.  Honorees will also be highlighted in Mountaire Farms quarterly newsletter, which is distributed throughout Delmarva.  Each monthly WBOC/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athlete will also be eligible to earn the honor of being named a "WBOC/Mountaire Farms Scholar Athletes of the Year ", which goes to one male and one female athlete.  These student athletes will be featured in additional vignettes, highlighting their yearly performance, and will receive an additional $2,500 in scholarship money.