FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 16, 2000


Nestle, Porter named 2000 FHSAA Scholar-Athletes of the Year

GAINESVILLE – Nick Nestle of Mainland High School (Daytona Beach) and Lisa Porter of Island Christian School (Islamorada) were named the 2000 FHSAA Male and Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year at the Sixth Annual Florida High School Activities Association Academic All-State Awards Banquet held tonight at the Wyndham Westshore Hotel in Tampa.

The two students – among the 24 chosen to the 2000 FHSAA Academic All-State Team – received a $2500 scholarship and commemorative trophy in addition to the $500 award and medallion for being selected to the team. The Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award is generally regarded as the most prestigious award the Association confers upon a student-athlete.

Nestle, a recent graduate of Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, finished his high school career with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average and was the valedictorian of his 380-member senior class. He earned varsity letters in soccer and tennis his junior and senior years, as well as swimming & diving his senior year. Nestle will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., where he will study computer engineering and play on the varsity soccer team.

Nestle, who served the last two years as Mainland’s webmaster, was named a National Merit Scholar and was one of 150 students in the nation selected for the National Association of Secondary School Principals Principal’s Leadership Award. This past year, he was named the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Class 3A, District 9 Boys Soccer Player of the Year, the Orlando Sentinel Volusia County Boys Soccer Player of the Year and the Daytona Beach News-Journal Volusia-Flagler Boys Soccer Player of the Year. Nestle earned 12 varsity letters in five different sports during his four years at Mainland. His other honors include: being honored as the state’s winner for the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award; being one of 200 regional scholars in the nation to be named a Coca-Cola Scholar National Finalist; and being awarded the Daytona Beach News-Journal Medallion of Excellence.

Porter recently graduated from Island Christian School in Islamorada where she finished her high school career with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average and was the valedictorian in a senior class of 16 students. She earned varsity letters in volleyball, basketball and softball her junior and senior years. Porter will attend Palm Beach Atlantic College in West Palm Beach, studying athletic training and exercise science.

Porter was named the B.P.O.E. Elks Lodge National Foundation’s Most Valuable Student, was a Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation Semifinalist and was selected for induction into Island Christian School’s Hall of Fame. She was named to the South Florida Christian Conference’s All-Conference Teams in basketball and softball, set the Island Christian record for career point scored in girls basketball and was Island Christian’s Female Athlete of the Year this past year. Porter also served as Class President her junior and senior years and earned Island Christian’s Exemplary Student Award three consecutive years.

Last April, 24 student-athletes – 12 boys and 12 girls – were chosen from among 224 qualified nominees from the Association’s 543 member high schools as the 2000 FHSAA Academic All-State Team. To be eligible for selection to the team, a student must be a graduating senior, must have a cumulative unweighted grade point average of 3.5 or better, and must have earned a varsity letter in at least two different sports during their junior and senior years.

The Florida High School Activities Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletics in Florida. It has a membership of 615 middle, junior and senior high schools.

Contact:
Robert Hernberger
Assistant Director of Communications, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 190
roberth@fhsaa.org