In the 10 years that Athletic Director, Tony Millard, has been nominating students for the NIAAA scholarship he’s never had a winner. This year he has two. 

The National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA) takes nominations from across the state each year to recognize distinguished scholastic, leadership, and sportsmanship attributes of high school student-athletes. Each year one boy and girl winner from the state of Illinois are selected and this year it’s East’s very own seniors, Mae Robinson and Andrew Pohlman. 

According to NIAAA, in order to receive the scholarship, nominees must be seniors who have played two sports and earned a varsity letter for at least one of them. The nominees must also be “well rounded students” with a minimum of a B+ average. 

East’s athletic director, Tony Millard, shares these requirements with varsity coaches each year when he’s looking for recommendations for the scholarship. While there are many strong athletes at East deserving of this nomination, two stood out to Millard. 

“Once [the coaches] send me nominations then we kind of review them and go back to see who fits the criteria,” Millard said. “Both Mae and Andrew received multiple nominations from different coaches in the program, so that was helpful in kind of narrowing it down to the two of them.”

Senior, Mae Robinson, was surprised when she heard about her nomination but immediately got to work filling out the application and writing her personal essay. Robinson was excited to have this opportunity and is grateful for the recognition she received from the NIAAA.

“I didn’t even know about the scholarship, so I was pretty shocked when Mr. Millard was telling us all the things involved with it,” Robinson said. “I was honored, surprised, and super grateful for the opportunity to be nominated and I wasn’t expecting much out of it because it was a super competitive scholarship.”

Robinson has participated in both cross country and track & field at the varsity level at East and has clearly made an impact on both the programs. She doesn’t take all the credit for her success though as she recognizes the work her coaches have put into their programs to get her here. 

“I grew up in the programs, I am who I am today because of all the things that my coaches have done for me,” Robinson said. “All my accolades come from them, they have helped me to get where I am and I am grateful for that.”

Andrew Pohlman, a senior at East, has been playing football and basketball for his entire highschool career and stood out to his coaches. Similar to Robinson, Pohlman was nominated by multiple coaches at East making him an obvious choice for Mr. Millard. 

Pohlman has pushed himself to be disciplined and do the hard work and he thanks his coaches and teammates for being there for him every step of the way.

“You wouldn’t see the person I am today without my coaches and my teammates especially; they’ve pushed me in good times and bad times to be the best person I can,” Pohlman said. “When I didn’t want to wake up and go to those workouts, my coaches got me there, my teammates got me there, they gave me rides and they gave me the motivation to become who I am today.”  

It isn’t easy to get to the level that Pohlman and Robinson are at; it takes dedication and sacrifices but in the end it can pay off. For anyone trying to be successful athletes in high school, both Andy and Mae have some advice.

“Put your head down and work, you’re not going to want to do it but it’s all about discipline, it’s all about waking up and doing what you’re supposed to do on that day. Those days add up,” Pohlman said. 

“It’s all about having a balance. You don’t have to be the number one state qualifier in all of Illinois, you just have to be a good person,” Robinson said. “Do well at school, stay focused at your sport, just do all the little things to make sure you can be the best that you are and then the opportunities kind of come to you.”

While Robinson and Pohlman have come a long way already, their journey with the NIAAA isn’t done yet. On May 5, both the winners get the opportunity to read their essays to 200 athletic directors from around the state. After that, their applications will be submitted at the sectional level and they will compete between the winners from 5 other surrounding states for further recognition. 

Neither of these star athletes’ careers is ending at the high school level, as both are going on to compete and study at the collegiate level.

Robinson will be attending St. Olaf College where she will major in Political Science and continue to run track & field. Pohlman is on his way to play football and hopefully basketball at Kenyon College where he plans to major in Economics.

This scholarship is a huge accomplishment for Andrew and Mae and shows that East athletes are truly like no other. Hopefully some more winners will come from East in the future, but for now, Millard is happy to see two deserving student athletes get their recognition. 

“Obviously every year you have outstanding candidates. You’re talking about some of the best, not just athletes, but students as well,” Millard said. “I couldn’t be happier that Mae and Andrew are not only nominees but also have won.”

Written by Senior Jordan Fikis. Edited by staff writers for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl.