03/28/2024
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“Attitude determines altitude.” That was the message presented to the student athletes by Roger Marino the community relations director for Mountaire Farms, at the annual awards banquet held at the Pinecrest County Club in Lumberton.

The ten monthly winners were each presented with $1,000 scholarship checks. The highlight of the night was Abby Norris, of East Bladen, receiving the Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year award, an additional $2,500 in scholarship money, and an engraved crystal trophy.

The scholar-athlete program highlights male and female senior student-athletes who carry a 3.0 GPA or higher, participates in at least two sports (minimum of one as a captain), and is involved in extracurricular activities both at school and in the community. Nominees must display excellence on and off the athletic field. Norris was the March monthly winner.

A senior at East Bladen High School, Norris is ranked number 1 in her class, a ranking she has held since entering the school, with a 4.9 weighted GPA and has earned numerous awards in volleyball, basketball and softball while also serving in multiple clubs. She is the Four-County Conference Volleyball Player-of-the-Year. Norris is also a winner of the NCHSAA’s Wilburn Clary Medal Award recognizing the top student athletes in the state and is one of 20 national finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame/U.S. Army Award of Excellence to be awarded in Canton, Ohio in August.

“It’s a tremendous honor,” Norris said. “Of all these great athletes here, it feels pretty good to be on top.” Norris will attend UNC Chapel Hill in the fall and major in Biology.

She was nominated for the monthly award by her coach, Patty Evers and selected as the overall female winner by Mountaire Farms and Civitas Media. She is the daughter of Eddie and Stephanie Norris of Bladenboro.

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