When Centreville High holds its graduation ceremony on June 21, the grads will include at least four students who made their marks — big time — on the school. They are Matt Balderston, 18; Sean Dolan, 18; Adam North, 17; and Khori Rogers, 17.
<mh>Matt Balderston
<bt>Matt Balderston played center on the Wildcats' ice hockey team, and midfield and attack in lacrosse. He also sits on the Student Government Association board. During the summers and the off-season for sports, he has worked at Westfields' golf course since the summer before his freshman year of high school. His favorite memories of CVHS include, "going to football games with my friends and just hanging out."
Balderston was recruited to play lacrosse at Salisbury (Md.) University, where he plans to major in business or education. A Philadelphia native, Balderston has lived in Centreville since he was in seventh grade. He is the son of Phill and Maureen Balderston of Little Rocky Run and has two younger siblings: Michael, a high school sophomore, and Kate, a freshman.
<mh>Sean Dolan
<bt>Sean Dolan held the "Mr. Centreville" title this school year, having won the position in a pageant he describes as, "like a male Miss USA thing." The competition included a question round, a talent round — for which he learned a dance routine — and a formal wear parade.
Dolan is a golfer on the school's varsity team, and won a Coach's Award. This summer, he plans to work at Twin Lakes Golf Course.
"Golf is very relaxing. You can get away with your friends, and it's a challenge," he said.
Dolan played junior varsity baseball and has worked with younger students, coaching a seventh-grade championship basketball team for the SYA and visiting Liberty Middle School to talk to students about CVHS.
He has also interned for the Laborer's International Union of North America for two summers. Dolan, who enjoys math and AP statistics classes, will enroll at the University of North Carolina Wilmington this fall.
He is the son of Brian and Debbie Dolan of Westbrooke and has a younger sister, Jaclyn, a junior at CVHS.
<mh>Adam North
<bt>Adam North is the co-editor in chief of the school newspaper, The Sentinel; president of the Spanish Honor Society, a class board member, in the theater club, and co-captain of the swim team. Last year, he was selected by teachers to win the AP American Civilizations Student of the Year award for the school.
Of his accomplishments, he is the most proud of the swim team, he says. When he started on the team as a sophomore, he "couldn't really swim at all," he says. Talked into joining the team by a friend, he says he grew to the challenge. "I was awful, and I just had such a good time pushing myself," he says.
North has won a full academic scholarship to the University of Southern California, where he plans to major in linguistics. He is the son of Marjorie and John North of Little Rocky Run and has two older siblings: Rachel, a junior at Penn State, and Brian, a senior at James Madison University . The family moved to Centreville from Boston when North was 4.
<mh>Khori Rogers
<bt>Theater club president Khori Rogers is also involved in activities including the Social Studies Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honors Society, and the show choir, for which she serves as dance captain. In this role, she leads warm-ups and helped to choreograph the winter show. Outside school, she studies dance at the Russell School of Ballet. In the senior ballet recital next weekend, she has a small solo part. She will continue her dance studies this fall at New York University.
She recently held the lead role in the school play, "Up the Down Staircase."
Her favorite subjects in school are history and English. "My two favorite teachers are [history teachers] Mr. Waters and Mr. Rourke," she says. "They're amazing, and heightened my love for history. They're definitely some of the teachers that I'm going to miss."
Rogers and mother Sharon Boone live in the Centre Ridge community and moved here from Chicago when Rogers was in seventh grade.