HHS seniors enjoy special evening
By: Mary Ellen Zangara
Hillsborough High seniors Tyler Szwarc and Katherine Glass-Hardenburgh were named their school’s 2007 Somerset County Scholar Athletes and were honored at the 24th annual Scholar Athlete Awards Dinner Thursday night at the Doubletree Hotel in Somerset. The annual dinner is sponsored by the Somerset County High School Principal’s Association and honors outstanding male and female athletes from high schools in Somerset County.
The evening began with a welcome by Dr. Thomas DiGanci of Watchung Hills Regional High School. DiGanci is the president of the Principal’s Association.
"I feel truly honored to acknowledge this elite group of young men and women. It is an event that I look forward to each day along with my colleagues. To our student athletes, families and relatives, we thank you for the love, understanding and care. You should be proud of your sons and daughters as we are this evening," he said.
In the written program, DiGanci wrote a president’s message that said, "This evening we recognize the accomplishments of a tremendous group of young men and women who represent both their families and school districts in such a truly worthy manner. We are in debt to the communities that support this excellence and our student’s athletes who daily make us realize why we became educators."
Invocation was given by Sister Regina Havens, principal of Immaculata High School in Somerville, and dinner followed. After dinner, each of the scholar athletes were announced back into the room of about 500 guests in a spot light as their biographies were read.
Tyler Szwarc was first of the two HHS recipients. Principal Karen Bingert presented both of the scholar athletes with bowl trophy and they also received a plaque for their honor.
Szwarc is the son of Debbie and Hank Szwarc and is an All-County, All-State and All-America track athlete. He is an Eagle Scout, President of the German Honor Society, a member of the National Honor Society and is a Bloustein Distinguished Scholar. During his high school career, Szwarc earned nine varsity letters and is the captain of the winter and spring track teams.
He holds the school indoor records in the 55-meter high hurdles, 200-meter dash and the shuttle hurdles relay. As the anchor of the hurdle relay team, Szwarc helped win a first place in the NJSIAA Group 4 Relays and a fourth place at the Nike Indoor Nationals.
"Overall it is a great way to be rewarded for academics and athletics. It is nice to have people recognize the fact that we put in time both in school and after school to accomplish things. It is a real honor and I am very excited about it. I was really glad I was able to make it here tonight. It is amazing to see what people have done.
"My coaches played a large part in this pushing me to be the best athlete that I can. My teachers definitely for the academic part, and a large part was my family as my brother was an athlete, he was very good in athletics and academics and I tried to follow in his footsteps It was great having my parents motivate me as well in the athletics and academics. My dad was a hurdler and my mom is a teacher."
Szwarc will be attending Bucknell University after graduation majoring in Astrophysics.
Katherine Glass-Hardenburgh followed as her biography was read. She is the daughter of John Hardenburgh and Diane Glass. While at HHS, she played field hockey for four years. Glass-Hardenburgh was a varsity tri-captain this year and played in three national USAFH tournaments with her club team winning first place in Palm Springs in 2006. She also played lacrosse for three years.
In school, she enjoys math and science and taken numerous AP courses. She is the treasurer of the National Honor Society, and a member of the robotics team. Outside of school, Glass-Hardenburgh is a shift manager at Maggie Moos and is a teen liaison to the Hillsborough Youth Services Commission.
"I think this honor is very special that I received this award. It not only compliments my sports achievements but my academics achievements combined together and it realizes that it is tough to play sports and achieve in a school environment while they are both very big commitments. I feel very proud to represent my school.
"I really don’t win tons of awards but it special to win something rather big. I feel that field hockey is the special sport that helped me along the way. I have been playing since seventh grade and I play in a club team. All of my coaches have been a big influence in my life. They have always encouraged me to work hard in athletics making sure that school always came first," she said.
After graduating from HHS, Glass-Hardenburgh is attending Leigh University for Integrated Business Engineering program.