.....29 NWHS senior accomplishments

by PATTI STOKES

Northwest High School’s graduating class had much to celebrate this year and their accomplishments in academics, athletics and community service were highlighted during an awards ceremony in the school’s auditorium on the evening of May 23.

“After transitioning back to school this year from an unprecedented year and a half, our Class of 2022 managed to accomplish some awesome feats,” Principal Ashley Young told those attending the ceremony. “This class is 492 members strong, and 43% carry a cumulative GPA of 4.0 or better; the average GPA is 3.6.”

The Class of 2022 will represent NWHS at over 80 college campuses and all five branches of the military, Young continued. Three of the seniors were National Merit Scholarship finalists and seven were semi-finalists. Two students earned a perfect score on the ACT. The class earned $13.5 million in scholarships.

The Vikings marching band, which includes 20 seniors, received over 25 1st place awards. The Varsity Winter Guard program was a Carolina Winter Ensemble silver medalist. Northwest had 73 students selected to participate in the GCS All County Band, which was the largest group of students from any one high school.

Thirty-five students were selected to participate in the Central All-District Band, which was also the largest group of students from any one high school.

Twenty-nine students were selected to participate in the UNC-G Honor Band Clinic; nine students were eligible for All State Band auditions.

The school’s Concert Band, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble each received the highest ratings of Superior by a panel of judges.

Fourteen senior members of the school’s Viking Voices vocal ensemble represented Northwest at AllCounty Chorus, community events and school productions, and the ensemble earned two Superior ratings and an Excellent Rating at the North Carolina Music Performance Assessment.

Northwest’s wrestling team was runner-up in the 4A Wrestling Dual Team state tournament. The women’s lacrosse team made it to the State Championship Final Four. The cheerleading team earned its fourth consecutive State Championship, and finished seventh overall at Nationals.

Additionally, seniors logged over 22,000 hours of service learning in their four years at Northwest.

Photo by Patti Stokes/NWO

N.C. Sen. Michael Garrett recognizes NWHS senior Julia Humphrey at a May 23 awards ceremony for being accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy, which pays 100% of the tuition, room and board, medical and dental care costs of Naval Academy midshipmen in return for fi ve years of active-duty service upon graduation. Humphrey was also recipient of a U.S. Marines’ award in recognition of her athletic accomplishments and NWHS’s female Athlete of the Year award. See more photos and details from this awards ceremony at Facebook.com/Northwest Observer.

Look for more in next issue

Northern Guilford will host an awards ceremony for its seniors on June 2, 6 p.m. in the school’s auditorium. Northwest’s graduation ceremony will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum Friday, June 3, 7 p.m., and Northern’s ceremony, also at Greensboro Coliseum, will be held Saturday, June 4, at 8 p.m. Look for more awards and graduation coverage in our next issue on June 16.

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for their hard work this past year – Director Nick Gervasi, President Caitlyn Annunziato, Vice President Eric Stout, Treasurer Elizabeth Degnon and Secretary Monica Rashkov. What an amazing group of teens! We have a new group of awesome teens leading the team for 2022/2023! Congratulations to the newest elected executive council, Director Monica Rashkov, President Andrew Komuves, Vice President Elizabeth Degnon, Secretary Caitlyn Dixon and Treasurer Emmitt Cavey. We can’t wait to see what the team does for the community this year!

For more information about ORYA or to register for upcoming sports and programs, visit

ORYA.ORG ORYA.ORG TO REGISTER Congratulations to our ORYA “super team”– Cobra Kai U10 Girls

Oak Ridge Youth Association celebrates Cobra Kai, one of our U10 Girls recreational soccer teams. After wrapping up their spring season, these young athletes headed to Raleigh over the weekend of May 21-22 to compete in the North Carolina Football Club Cup Tournament. The team had suffered a tough loss in the championship game in the NC Fusion Cup the week prior, but the Cobra Kais were determined and focused to come home victorious. For this tournament they not only had to play against bigger teams in their two Saturday games, but they also had to persevere through thunderstorms and mid-90’s heat. Despite the challenges, they managed to advance to the semi-final game on Sunday morning, where they held on for a 1-0 victory against a tough opponent. And with that, the girls once again found themselves advancing to the championship game. The Cobra Kai team represented Oak Ridge extremely well and defeated a Raleigh team 3-1 to secure the Gold Championship. Congratulations on a hard-fought victory! ORYA offers teams the ability to surpass the typical recreational sports experience and there is no better example of this than the Cobra Kais winning the tournament in Raleigh. Coaches Sarah East and Mike Myers have done an outstanding job with this team and helped all of these young athletes and families get the most out of their ORYA experience!

The ORYA Cobra Kai U10 Girls soccer team poses after securing the Gold Championship in the North Carolina Football Club Cup Tournament in Raleigh on May 22. Team members, L to R (bottom row) are Keaton Snipes, Grace Pearsall, Elli Baity, Addie McGuire and Ellie Keever; and (top row) Emily Rochford, Mia East, Skylar Spanburg, Ansley Yarborough, Ella Campbell and Layla Myers. The team is coached by Mike Myers and Sarah East.

Oak Ridge Youth Association thanks DeVaney Dentistry for sponsoring this page