Riverhead Student Wins State Honor

Riverhead students continue to make their hometown proud.

High school senior Carolyn Carrera was told this week that she has been named New York's female winner of the 2013 Wendy's High School Heisman Award.

The award is given annually to one male and one female student in each state nationwide.

Winners are chosen based on excellence in athletics, academics and community leadership; Carolyn was chosen from a pool of 48,000.

Last month, she was named a finalist, as 10 female and 10 male athletes were chosen. She now qualifies for a national competition on Dec. 13.

Ultimately, 12 national finalists will be selected and featured on ESPN to receive gold medals and $2,000 for their high school.

Of those 12, one male and one female will receive a Wendy's High School Heisman crystal trophy and a $500 gift certificate to Wendy's.

Each national winner's high school will receive a donation of $10,000.

Carolyn, who is involved with three sports, is varsity goalie on the soccer team, a guard on the basketball team, and an All-Division midi on the lacrosse team. She has received a scholarship to play both lacrosse and soccer at Hofstra University in the fall of 2014, where she plans to major in either engineering or pre-med.

Also an outstanding scholar, Carolyn carries a 98.75 unweighted average, received a 2040 on the SATs, and is ranked third in her class of 362 students. She is an honor roll student, a member of the National Honor Society, the Latin Honor Society, Mentathletes and Math Club.

Also pPresident of the Class of 2014, Carolyn has been actively engaged in both student government and in raising funds to help a former classmate and friend, Michael Hubbard, return to the Riverhead area after a gel candle accident in which he was badly injured

On top of all her academic and athletic achievements, Carolyn has two jobs, working at the Riverhead Recreation Department and at Michelangelo's Pizza. She is also active in her church and is an accomplished pianist and percussionist.