To win the Peter J. Donahue scholarship for $1000, a student must write about a coach who has influenced him/her. This year, senior Marwa Khudaynazar won this scholarship. Khudaynazar wrote about her very first coach, her junior varsity field hockey coach, Deena Bello.
Khudaynazar decided to write about Bello because she “kept thinking about how much she’s influenced [her].” Beyond that, Khudaynazar admitted that “[Bello] is the reason [she] played Field Hockey. She encouraged new players and that’s when [Khudaynazar] learned to be open to [trying] new things”.
After writing about Bello, Khudaynazar wasn’t even sure she even got the scholarship as she never heard back from the Athletic Office. “Then one day, [she was] sitting in AP Government, a favorite class of [her’s], and [her teacher Gregg] Hurley gets a call from the Athletic Office saying [she] needed to come down after class”, so Khudaynazar did so. When she arrived, “Mrs. Marquado [asked] ‘how many people are you bringing to the banquet?’, and [Khudaynazar] asked if they were finally going to announce the winner at the banquet.” It was at this point that Khudaynazar realized she had been chosen as the winner of the scholarship. Mrs. Marquado was surprised to see that Khudaynazar wasn’t aware of the fact that she won because she mailed a letter to her. Apparently Khudaynazar’s letter that announced her winning never got to her. Regardless of how Khudaynazar received the good news, the scholarship is a testament to Bello’s great influence on Khudaynazar, and she is grateful to her coach for her guidance.
Correction: A previous, older draft of this article was published accidentally. This is the corrected and updated final version.
