On April 21st the Twin Valley Rotary club was proud to honor Twin Valley High School seniors Sophia Marsalo and Matthew Sedgwick. The presentation was made at their weekly meeting. Sophia and Matthew were honored for their participation in extracurricular activities and outstanding academic achievement. Sophia Marsalo is a senior at Twin Valley High School this year. Sophia will be attending Princeton University next year to further her academic and athletic career. Since she was six years old, Sophia has played Softball. At age 9, she began playing travel softball. Up until she was 16, she played for PA Strikers Fast pitch softball. In the past two years, she has been playing for Newtown Rock Gold Fast pitch Softball. Her love for the game has continued to grow as she has committed to play Division 1 softball at Princeton. During her time playing softball for Twin Valley, the team has won two district and 1 county titles. On top of that, she played Varsity Field Hockey for three years being a part of winning counties in 2020. As far as academics, she has maintained a 4.372 cumulative GPA and is ranked 14th in her class. She intends to major in Chemical Engineering at Princeton. Sophia is a member of the National Honors Society, and was involved in the recycling club and mini thon. Throughout High School Sophia has volunteered at Rock Hollow Woods Environmental Learning Center. She has always had a passion for the outdoors, starting when she began hunting with her dad when she was very young. Sophia has an older sister, named Grace, who also played softball her whole life, winning Berks County Player of the Year and the District 5A Player of the Year in 2019. Grace attended Penn State University to further her softball career. Sophia’s mother and father are her biggest supporters, and she deeply appreciates everything they have done for her. Sophia credits all of her success to her family, and thanks them for all they have done.
Matthew Sedgwick has spent his years in high school pushing himself to the limit. At every possible chance, he has taken classes that are more difficult. He has taken AP US History and AP US Government and Politics, AP Chemistry and AP Physics, AP Calculus AB and BC, and AP English Language and Composition and AP English Literature and Composition. Even now, in the last quarter of his senior year, Matthew is taking four AP classes. In the past, when there was no AP option, he always took the honors option, when there was one, of course. Matthew is very active in the Band; he plays the Trumpet in Concert Band, Marching Band, and Jazz Band. During the winter, Matthew participates in the Science Olympiad club where he participates in a variety of events each covering a different field of science. In past years, he has competed in events involving everything from ciphers, to electronics, to music and sound. Athletically, Matthew runs all year. He runs Cross Country in the fall, Indoor Track in the winter, and Track in the spring. Between all of this, he still finds time to volunteer and tutor through the National Honors Society. Matthew does not have too much of a plan of what he is going to do after high school, though he does have a general idea. He plans on going to college pursuing a degree in Chemistry. He does not know where he will be attending yet, though he is leaning towards Penn State now. After that, he is considering continuing on to get a Ph.D. After College, Matthew plans to enter into the field of Chemistry research.
Pictured (L to R): Matthew Sedgwick, Sophia Marsalo