With 10 varsity letters and success in the classroom and community, Neenah High School senior Alyssa Barnes has been honored as a recipient of the WIAA Scholar-Athlete Award.
Barnes is one of 32 students statewide and just one of four girls from Division 1 schools, to earn the award. A total of 820 seniors were nominated for the award, representing 420 different high schools. Each school is permitted to nominate one male and one female athlete. Barnes is the sixth student from Neenah to win the award in its 33-year history. Alison Parker was the most recent winner in 2013. Other winners were Brett Hartman in 2009, Brooke Bohannon in 1999, Karen Schaper in 1994 and Faith Handevidt in 1992.
Barnes, the daughter of Steve and Mary Beth Barnes, owns a 3.78 grade point average and attended Coolidge Elementary School. She has signed a letter of intent to attend UW-Green Bay in the fall on a soccer scholarship. Barnes earned four varsity letters in basketball and three in cross country. She has already earned three letters in soccer entering her senior season this spring.
Barnes is a two-time first-team all-conference performer in basketball and also collected first team honors in soccer as a junior. Barnes was named the Appleton Post-Crescent area Player of the Year in soccer in 2015. She played a key role on the Rockets’ sectional champion and state tournament soccer team as a freshman and competed in the state cross country meet as a sophomore. She helped the basketball team reach the sectional finals in her sophomore and junior seasons.
In addition to her athletic and academic success, Barnes has been active as a volunteer for Special Olympics. She also served on Neenah’s student council and leadership council and worked as a volunteer for the Neenah Hoops Club camps for the past four years.
“Nothing compares to the feeling of working hard with your peers and pushing one another to be their very best and at the end celebrating a victory you all worked towards,” Barnes wrote in her essay. “I am extremely fortunate to have been involved in multiple sports that I have thoroughly enjoyed throughout my high school career.”
Complete list of 2016 WIAA Scholar-Athletes
(front page photo courtesy Kim Jensen photography)
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