FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 20, 2005


Bosenberg, Tabasky named 2005 FHSAA Scholar-Athletes of the Year

TAMPA – Christa Bosenberg of Walton High School (DeFuniak Springs) and Eddie Tabasky of Mainland High School (Daytona Beach) were respectively named the 2005 FHSAA Female and Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year at the 11th Annual Florida High School Athletic Association Academic All-State Awards Banquet held June 17 at the Wyndham Westshore Hotel in Tampa.

The two students – among the 24 chosen to the 2005 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.

Bosenberg finished her high school career with a 4.0 cumulative unweighted grade point average, and was valedictorian of her 126-member senior class. She earned varsity letters in tennis all four years of high school, volleyball her sophomore year, and volleyball and basketball her junior and senior years. Bosenberg will attend Okaloosa-Walton College in Niceville, and study English-as-a-second-language (ESOL) education.

Bosenberg, selected by her peers as Homecoming Queen her senior year, won the Governor's All-Star Student Award for Walton County, and placed third in the Panhandle Regional Science Fair Awards, while serving as president of National Honor Society her junior and senior years. She was named to the all-county volleyball team her senior year, and chosen as the state's first runner-up Outstanding Anchor Club member in 2005. In addition to her academic and athletic commitments, Bosenberg volunteered her time in Red Cross blood drives and Head Start projects, tutored elementary school ESOL students in English, and led a Bible study group that met every day before school.

Tabasky finished his high school career with a 4.0 cumulative unweighted grade point average, salutatorian of his 380-member senior class. He earned varsity letters in football and weightlifting all four years of high school, as well as track & field his sophomore year. Tabasky plans to study pre-medicine at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., were he will play football for the Big Green.

Tabasky, a Superintendent's Scholar, received the 2005 United States Achievement Academy National Leadership Merit and WESH-TV Salute 2 Seniors awards, and is a 2005 Coca-Cola Scholarship semifinalist. He completed nine Advanced Placement courses, and still made time to volunteer at his temple, raise food for food banks, and participated in the Rose Bay environmental clean-up.

Tabasky, a member of the Buccaneers' 2004 state championship football team, was named a 2004 Old Spice Red Zone Player of the Year by USA Today. He was chosen by the Florida Sports Writers Association to its Class 5A All-State second team his senior year, in addition to being selected to the 2005 CaliFlorida Bowl All-Star Team. Tabasky was a national nominee for the Wendy's High School Heisman Award.

A virtual hometown hero, Tabasky received the 2005 Daytona Beach News Journal Medallion of Excellence, and Volusia County commissioners proclaimed May 1, 2005 as Edward M. Tabasky Day.

Last April, 24 student-athletes – 12 boys and 12 girls – were chosen from among more than 400 qualified nominees from the Association’s 619 member high schools as the 2005 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 each of their junior and senior years.

The FHSAA Scholar-Athletes of the Year recognition program began in 1991-92. Since the Academic All-State Team program was initiated during the 1994-95 school year, only those student-athletes who are selected to the team are eligible for the Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award.

The Florida High School Athletic Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletics in Florida. It has a membership of more than 700 middle, junior and senior high schools.

Past FHSAA Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year
2004 – Katherine Booth, Lake Mary
2003 – Revae Green, Tavares
2002 – Courtney Caplin, St. Johns Country Day (Orange Park)
2001 – Becky Tapp, St. Petersburg Catholic
2000 – Lisa Porter, Island Christian (Islamorada)
1999 – Tiffany Walker, Naples
1998 – Deborah Thomas, Stanton (Jacksonville)
1997 – Megan Beck, Lely (Naples)
1996 – Mary Jernigan, Dr. Phillips (Orlando)
1995 – Terri Phelan, Miami Sunset
1994 – Kelly Dillon, Port St. Lucie
1993 – Stephanie Eken, St. Cloud
1992 – Erin Thomas, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale)

Past FHSAA Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year
2004 – Ryan Truchelut, Trinity Prep (Winter Park)
2003 – Adam Kircher, Maclay (Tallahassee)
2002 – Nick Wilson, Paxon (Jacksonville)
2001 – Bob Ross, Rockledge
2000 – Nick Nestle, Mainland (Daytona Beach)
1999 – Jared Day, Liberty County (Bristol)
1998 – Isaac Morford, Keystone Heights
1997 – Robert Rutland-Brown, Spruce Creek (Port Orange)
1996 – Ethan Altaratz, Naples
1995 – Kevin Campbell, Jupiter
1994 – Grant Thompson, Oak Hall (Gainesville)
1993 – Clint Park, North Florida Christian (Tallahassee)
1992 – Shelby Highsmith Jr., Ransom Everglades (Miami)

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