Ask Bella Coleman what it took for her to be this year\u2019s Owego Free Academy (OFA) valedictorian, and the answer might sound clich\u00e9. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot of hard work. And a dedication to doing homework,\u201d she said. \u201cI do a lot of school work at home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which hasn\u2019t left time for much distraction at home. \u201cI haven\u2019t really watched a TV show since last summer. That\u2019s really the only time I actually sit down and watch TV,\u201d Bella said. Then she mentioned another key to her 100.0974 high school grade-point average. \u201cI have lists on my phone all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The daughter of Holly Coleman and Michael Coleman, both of Owego, plans to attend the University of Virginia in the fall to study biomedical engineering. \u201cI\u2019ll probably go to med school, and I hope become some sort of doctor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Bella has found success throughout high school. In her junior year, the OFA volleyball team won the state title. This year, the team went back to the state finals, falling just short in the championship. (For those wondering, she will not play volleyball for Virginia, although she suspects she’ll play the game at the club level.) Last fall she was named Homecoming Queen. And now she\u2019s achieved the No. 1 spot in her graduating class, leading the procession on June 24.<\/p>\n
But when she was 11, she encountered a major detour – Hodgkin lymphoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were skiing with my Dad one weekend and I had a pretty bad accident,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe\u2019re in the car, going back home, and I\u2019m checking myself out and I notice the one side of my neck was bulging a little. I showed my Dad and he laughed and said, \u2018Yeah, you really messed yourself up.\u2019 That’s just how our family is.”<\/p>\n
Bella eventually had an MRI. It looked like a hematoma, she said, but her Mom\u2019s a nurse and the first feedback was nothing earth shattering. So they waited a bit for things to improve. When they didn\u2019t, there were more tests and a second diagnosis determined it was serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis kind of Hodkin\u2019s doesn\u2019t usually happen in kids, and it really doesn\u2019t happen in girls,\u201d Bella said, smiling. \u201cSo here I was – different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through three months of chemotherapy and losing all her hair, Bella said she didn\u2019t ever doubt that she\u2019d be healthy again. Hearing her talk about it now, she made it seem like more of an annoyance at school than anything else.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone got to wear hats in middle school,\u201d she said, explaining that since she had no hair and was allowed to wear a hat, the administration decided there would be solidarity. \u201cIt was so embarrassing, so overkill. They got t-shirts that said \u2018COURAGE\u2019 and \u201cNo. 1\u201d with a ribbon on the sleeve,\u201d she added, shaking her head. She might have rolled her eyes a bit, too. \u201cIt was so overkill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking back, Bella said she’s glad she was so young when all that happened. \u201cI just kept saying, \u2018I\u2019m going to be fine.’ I had a surgery, then the next day I was playing soccer. I told everybody I was fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
She played soccer until the ninth grade, and then switched to volleyball. \u201cI started really late. I like soccer, but there were a lot of injuries, and I liked the different team approach in volleyball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bella also played basketball since she was four years old, she remembered. \u201cMy dad loves basketball, so I had a basketball in my hands as soon as possible,\u201d she said. She also played lacrosse as a freshman. \u201cI was on varsity when we won the sectionals,\u201d she recalled. \u201cThat was really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an athlete who visited the trainer\u2019s room many times over her high school years, attending to her bumps and bruises, today Bella finds herself back there again, but playing a different role. \u201cI\u2019ve been doing that since the beginning of spring,\u201d she said of the athletic trainer-shadowing program. \u201cOur athletic director started the program and it is a really good experience. I can\u2019t do anything for actual treatments, but I help with setting up, applying heat, observing treatments. That sort of thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the OA community, she\u2019s been involved in \u201ca lot of little things, many of them through volleyball.\u201d She said she\u2019s also volunteered with the Special Olympics, but that most of her given time and effort has been in what she called \u201ca lot of one-timers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Plenty of study, real homework diligence, athletic success and community involvement all factor into Bella Coleman\u2019s valedictorian achievement. But she has one more bit of advice for those following her.<\/p>\n
\u201cSocial media – it\u2019s a popularity contest for sure. It\u2019s easy to get sucked into the drama, because it\u2019s always there and available,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you have to know when to leave it alone. There have been weeks when I have deleted all the apps, and I\u2019ve focused on what really matters \u2013 personal relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ask Bella Coleman what it took for her to be this year\u2019s Owego Free Academy (OFA) valedictorian, and the answer might sound clich\u00e9. \u201cIt\u2019s a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":56926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n