Sarah advocates for the humane treatment of animals. She and her mom are involved with PACEM and IMPACT. Sarah’s goals are to be a voice for the voiceless, an advocate for the poor, and an instrument for obtaining equality for all.
Sarah planned, organized, and implemented a benefit concert for earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile, recruiting five high school bands and sponsors for the event. The concert raised $1,300 for “Doctors Without Borders.”
Sarah helps out with a number of different organizations that help people with disabilities, including Special Olympics basketball. She volunteers with the Cerpenum Club, a Young Life for young adults and teens with disabilities. She, also, volunteers with “A League of Their Own,” which is a softball league for teens and young adults with disabilities. In fact, Sarah stopped playing JV softball at Western Albemarle High School to participate in this endeavor.
Sarah is known for her talent of baking a delicious biscotti, and is an avid photographer. She recently gave up her part-time job at a grocery store, where she had been nominated as “Employee of the Quarter” to allow more time for school work and her involvement with the mentally challenged folks.
This years Outstanding Young Man of the Year is Will Murray. Will is the son of William and RoyAnn Murray. He just graduated from Albemarle High School. At Albemarle, Will achieved a 3.9 GPA while taking AP courses as a sophomore, junior, and senior. He also participated in the Math Engineering Science Academy, which is a magnet program at AHS, taking two college-level engineering classes each semester. Will also tutored freshman in the program.
Here at Incarnation, Will participates in the Church Youth Group. He’s been an Antioch Team leader for the past 2 years, planning and leading high school retreats, and attending them with his younger sister.
Will attends weekly peer-led informal prayer group meetings, participates in vigils during Lent, attends Ignite worship services, and plays bass guitar at the Youth Mass.
As far as volunteering, Will helped out at a camp in southwest Virginia, replacing trailer sidings and decks, painting, and doing other construction work to help low-income families.
Will also helps the homeless locally with his family. They served dinner on Christmas Eve at a local homeless shelter, and a couple of summers ago, Will volunteered to work for a week in Washington, D.C. at a soup kitchen.
On top of school, youth group, and volunteering, Will works at a local restaurant. He also provides a lawn care and snow-shoveling service with his younger brother, and a baby-sitting services. Will taught younger kids as a tennis instructor at a local swim and tennis club his first three years of high school.
He was an assistant basketball coach for a middle school team at the YMCA in his freshman year.
At Albemarle High School, Will played varsity on the Tennis team for four years. This year he captained the team to victory through regional play. He also ran Varsity on the Cross Country team. He played JV football for two years. As a sophomore, he was co-captain of the team and was selected by his teammates for the Coach’s Award. He earned the Student Athlete Award for maintaining at least a 3.5 GPA during each high school sports season in which he participated. For the past two years, Will was nominated to be a student athletic leader and mentor. He also earned the Julian King Sportsmanship Award for outstanding sportsmanship on a local tennis team.
Will co-founded a classic and alternative rock band with a few of his buddies, in which he plays bass guitar and writes original music. The band performs at local venues and you can find their music on iTunes.
Will participated in the U.S. Naval Academy Summer Seminar, a six-day program intended to familiarize rising seniors with the Navy. Actually, Will will be attending Notre Dame University this fall on a Navy ROTC scholarship.