Mount Carmel is well-known for its excellence in athletics. Although many don’t realize it, several of MC’s athletes are leaders in the classroom as well.  There are 128 student athletes involved in four fall sports: cross country, golf, soccer, and football.

Of those 128 varsity student-athletes, 56% earned a spot on the honor roll during the last school year.  Seven earned high honors with distinction (straight As), 34 are on the high honor roll (all As and Bs), and 31 students on the honor roll (B average with no more than two Cs).

Those varsity student athletes make up  20% of the total student body of 625 students. They also represent 30%  of the total honor roll students.

Number one ranked senior Dominic Antonietti says that balancing a personal life and school schedule isn’t as hard as everyone thinks. Antonietti participates in football, lacrosse, speech team, mock trial, Model UN, disaster relief club, and scholastic bowl. He explained that balancing school and extracurricular activities comes naturally to him after so many years of repetition.

Antonietti says that the added responsibility of being student body president dictates his decisions of which activities he has to prioritize the highest. He noted, “I usually prioritize the current season of sport I’m playing in or student council.”  His prioritization really depends on how he feels. Antonietti says that his time-monitoring skills  and involvement in activities are  huge reasons for his success in school.  Antonietti is applying to Stanford, Vanderbilt, Harvard, and Dartmouth.

Luke Ehrenstrom is currently standing on top of the totem pole of grades in the junior class by being ranked number one. While his academic achievements are outstanding, he claims that with all the academic competition in his class, it’s a “miracle” that he’s ranked first. Ehrenstrom currently participates in cross-country, scholastic bowl, speech team, Model UN, and student council. When asked which activity gets prioritized the highest, he says speech team is put before all others because it helps him practice for presenting essays in classes. The practice on the speech team has helped him give powerful and decisive speeches in front of an audience of students who don’t necessarily want to be there.

On balancing his school work with extracurricular activities, Ehrenstrom noted “It doesn’t get balanced. It’s top heavy and lopsided.” Ehrenstrom’s busy life of school and sports is challenging, but he finds a way to make it work. He went on to add that being a successful Man of Carmel takes “time management and commitment.” This strain of trying to balance his schedule has an effect on him during the cross-coutry season when he frequently misses practices.

Ehrenstrom was honest in admitting “Being number one is not fun for me.”  He feels under “constant pressure” from classmates trying to claim for his spot, and he is always expected to get the highest grade in every class or activity. He relies on his sense of humor and witty mockery of school events to keep him from cracking.

But despite not liking being the number one junior, Ehrenstrom plans on staying at the top.

What can’t be said about the standout sophomore, Brett Weisman, who is ranked number one in his class? Weisman is currently involved in hockey, golf, and lacrosse. His method for balancing school is simple: “It just happens. Just do it, like Nike.”

Weisman claims that he can always find time to manage his extracurricular activities and school. His involvement on the lacrosse and hockey team push him to work harder in school, and the adrenaline he gets from sports carries over to the classroom. Without sports on his schedule, Weisman says he wouldn’t feel the competitive nature in grades.

The top students in each class have different methods of balancing school and extracurricular activities. The amount of work they put in the classrooms and on teams can only be described in one word: excellence.