Senior Shelby Watts is the winner of the Contra Costa County Regional Occupational Program Student of Excellence Award for her work in Advanced Sports Medicine. The honor was bestowed by the Contra Costa County Office of Education on April 9.
A Campolindo Sports Medicine student has won this award 4 out of the last 5 years.
According to Sports Medicine teacher Ray Albiento, the test is open to all Advanced Sports Medicine students. He said, “The requirements are the student has to go through many muscle tests, stress tests, and boning landmarks. They then have to perform one tape job and one first aid procedure, and they are all randomly picked. The person with the highest score is the winner of the award.”
Watts took a test in order to be nominated for the award. “I took it first, and I felt pretty good about it. I had the anticipation for everyone else to take it,” she said.
When she received a certificate from Albiento announcing she had scored the highest for Campo students, she was shocked. News about the County award surprised her while she was in New England. She said, “I was at dinner with my mom in Boston, and he called me and told me that I had won county. I was kind of speechless. I was not expecting him to call me when I was away and have such good news, so it was really cool.”
Once the Campo winner is chosen, Albiento then sends the results along with a recommendation and a letter from Watts herself to the County ROP office. “I submitted a letter of recommendation and told of her accomplishments, like she’s had extraordinary grades in sports medicine, has done internship hours here that’s above and beyond what we ask, and she’s actually done off-campus things with sports medicine,” he said.
Watts believes her passion is a key attribute. She said, “I really enjoy learning about sports medicine. I’m majoring in athletic training next year, so it’s something that I’d really like to learn about. It’s easy for me to grasp. It’s an hands-on class.” Watts is attending the University of Southern Maine to study athletic training next fall.
Albiento added, “She’s just worked really hard as a sports medicine student, and I appreciate all of her hard work and dedication. She’s not only good academically and book smart, but she has a great persona as well. She has good communication with the athletes as well as me, the health care professional here. She is really deserving of the award.”
A ceremony to honor the recipients of the ROP awards will be held at the Concord Senior Center May 9 from 4-5 p.m.
