NWO Kids’ Korner ....................................... 16

Over 250 children in Guilford County will go to court alone

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DESIENA ...continued from p. 27

COVID. “It’s very confusing,” she said of the course, “but to understand it feels good.”

For fun she likes baking and cooking. Among her favorite cooked dishes: shrimp scampi.

“It’s my mom’s recipe and I really like pasta and shrimp,” DeSiena wrote in a text message.

When it comes to baking, she has lots of favorites. But chocolate chip cookies stand out.

“They are really easy to make and everybody who I’ve made them for loves them, including myself,” she wrote.

NORTHWEST GUILFORD Nick Sanfilippo, senior

Sport: baseball

As a lefthanded baseball pitcher, Northwest Guilford’s Nick Sanfilippo says he often gives right-handed batters fits.

His pitches come across the plate sliding away from batters, he said. They swing where they think the ball should be, but come up with nothing but air.

“That happens a lot,” said Sanfilippo, a senior and the team’s only lefty. “That’s a pretty big advantage.”

He’s been playing baseball for as long as he can remember and he’s been a pitcher that entire time. He loves the position.

“Whenever you’re pitching, you’re in full control of the entire game,” said Sanfilippo, who said he has played mostly in relief this season. “There’s nothing like that control over a sport.”

He has played recreation league basketball and soccer, too, but it’s baseball that’s stuck.

“It’s so much fun,” he said.

He’s headed to UNC-Charlotte in the fall and is considering a major in business or a health-related field.

“I want to stay fit and be able to do things when I’m older,” said Sanfilippo. He said he’s “really into weightlifting,” tries to eat healthy foods and gets plenty of exercise.

He said he may play club baseball in college, but sees the coming years as an opportunity to “venture out, try new things. I’m pretty interested in combat sports – jujitsu, for one. I just want to try a bunch of them out.”

Why UNC-Charlotte? Older brother Alex, who ran cross country at Northwest, is a recent graduate and lives nearby, Sanfilippo said.

“I really like the campus,” he said. “I guess I’m just following my brother.”

His favorite Northwest class is drafting. The teacher – David Lambert – made it appealing, Sanfilippo said.

“It was just the environment he made with the class,” he said. “It was fun every day.”

During time away from baseball and school Sanfilippo works at DICK’S Sporting Goods on Bridford Parkway, where he said he often shopped as a kid. He’s worked there about two years, earning an income and broadening social skills by interacting with customers, he said.

fielder for the Vikings, and said he switches regularly between the two. “It’s good to play more than one position,” he said. “You have to develop a skill set for both.” That, he said, makes him more versatile. He said he “fell into” the first base NORTHWEST GUILFORD position because of his height – first Josh Foulks, junior basemen often have to stretch to grab Sport: baseball throws from around the infield. “I started working at it and getNorthwest ting better,” said Foulks, whose father Guilford’s Josh also played first base. His father was a Foulks, who hitter, too, and Foulks is now among stands 6 feet, the conference leaders, with a batting 5 inches, gave average north of .500. basketball a try freshman year, playing junior varsity for the Vikings. That was enough, though. He gave it up to concentrate on his first love: baseball. “I kind of got that from him,” he said of his dad. “But I have to work at it to get better.” He said he follows his coaches’ suggestions for improving plate performance. His baseball skills have caught the attention of NCAA Division I coaches, “I’ve been doing this since I was he said, and several have been in con-young,” Foulks said. His father, Stephen, had played baseball at Western Guilford and Guilford College. tact. He hasn’t picked a school yet, though, nor has he settled on a major in college after he graduates next year. “He got me into it,” said Foulks, But he does have a favorite class at a rising senior. “It just became some- Northwest: drafting. He has friends in thing I love and something I want to the class and likes the teacher, David play every day.” Lambert. He particularly likes the He played travel ball through opportunity to design on the computer. elementary school, and then took it The class watched, he said, as to middle school and high school. He Lambert designed a gear shift knob still plays travel ball during the summer and printed it out on a 3D printer. He and fall. then got the chance to design his own: He’s a first baseman and right a baseball knob. The Northwest Observer • Totally local since 1996