Newtown High Athletes Recognized For Efforts Off Of Playing Surfaces

By Andy Hutchison

Four of Newtown High School’s senior athletes who are standouts on the playing fields, courts, and in the swimming pool have recently been recognized for their outside-of-the-game achievements.

Kyle O’Connor and Kate Bowen each received the Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Scholar-Athlete Award, which is won by a senior boy and a senior girl at each Connecticut school. Dan Lynch and Meghan Bridges were selected as South-West Conference Scholar Leader Award recipients.

O’Connor and Lynch received additional honors. O’Connor won a $1,000 scholarship from the Connecticut High School Coaches Association. Lynch was selected to the Connecticut High School Coaches Association LL Division All-State Academic Basketball Team.

Lynch helped the Nighthawks’ basketball team reach the South-West Conference championship game this winter. O’Connor played football, swam, and is a member of the NHS boys’ lacrosse team. Bowen played basketball at NHS and is a member of the softball team. Bridges plays soccer and lacrosse at Newtown High.

The criteria for the state award O’Connor and Bowen won includes students having a grade point average of no less than 3.5, having participated in a varsity sport for a minimum of two years, having exhibited outstanding school and community service, and possessing high levels of integrity, self-discipline, and courage with personal standards that serve as a model to others.

The SWC gives its highest award to one senior boy and one senior girl from each conference school. Students are selected based on character, maintaining at least a C average, being active in school and in the community, and displaying leadership skills that set them apart from their classmates. The award also has an emphasis on leadership.

O’Connor’s community service includes time with St Rosa of Lima Roman Catholic Church, St Luke’s Lifeworks Community Center, and several other organizations as well as local sports camps. In school, O’Connor is a member of Student Government, Senior Class Executive Council, the Fusion Mentoring Program, and National Honor Society, among others. O’Connor is headed to the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.

Bowen’s community service includes work with The Tommy Fund for Children’s Cancer Research at Yale Children’s Hospital. She has also been a volunteer assistant for the Pulmonary Support Group Hospital for Special Care in New Britain. Bowen has volunteered with the Department of Social Services, among other organizations. She has also helped out with the Newtown Babe Ruth Softball Clinic, Xtreme Chaos Softball Organization, as well as NHS clinics. In school, Bowen has been involved with Future Teachers of America, the Guidance Counselor Association, and Fusion. Bowen will attend Manhattan College on an athletic scholarship to play softball.

Lynch referees basketball and umpires baseball games. As part of his community service, he has visited Masonicare at Newtown with the National Honor Society. At NHS, Lynch is involved with the Fusion Program and with the National Honor Society. He is headed to the University of Connecticut.

Bridges is a member of the National Honor Society and Guidance Honors Association. She was a religious education teacher, a mentor to a freshman at the high school, as well as a Spanish tutor and was elected Class Secretary her junior and senior years. Bridges helps coach lacrosse at Newtown clinics and camps. She will attend the University of New Hampshire where she was recruited to play lacrosse.