Valley Christian seniors Alyssa Braun ’15 and Gavin deFisser ’15 were each named finalists for the AIA’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.
Valley Christian Athletic Director Greg Haagsma stated, “We are extremely proud of both Alyssa and Gavin for their achievements and are happy that they are being recognized for their efforts in the classroom and athletically. It is very rare to have both a male and female finalist from one school and goes to show what outstanding individuals Alyssa and Gavin are.”
Schools are able to nominate only one male and one female student-athlete each year for this honor. Alyssa and Gavin will be recognized at the 2015 AIA Champions Awards Luncheon on Monday, May 18 at the University of Phoenix Stadium at 1:00pm.
Alyssa is planning to attend Concordia University in Irvine on a full-ride academic scholarship. Gavin has signed his National Letter of Intent to play golf and study at the College of William & Mary. Both have put together extremely impressive athletic, academic and extra-curricular (including community service) resumes over their four years at Valley Christian High School.
This is the 13th year the AIA has presented Scholar-Athlete and Scholar-Activity awards. Prior to this year, Valley Christian has only had two finalists or recipients for the individual awards. Julie-Anne Bailey ’04 was named the Scholar-Athlete in 2004 and Megan Gjersvig ’05 was presented with the Scholar-Activity award in 2005.