Desiree Zawisza, senior at Ansonia High School, has won the Naugatuck Valley League (NVL) Outstanding Senior award for the 2012 – 2013 school year.
She was presented with the award on Saturday, Feb. 23 at the Annual NVL Cheer Competition, which was held at Crosby High School in Waterbury.
Zawisza is the first senior from Ansonia since 1999 to win this award.
A total of 20 cheerleaders were nominated by their coaches and voted on by other coaches within the league.
Cara Kiley, Zawisza’s teammate, also made the team. Then from that team of 20 cheerleaders, an Outstanding Senior award was voted on by the coaches and given to the one, selected student.
Megan Rowley, Ansonia High cheerleading coach, said the award goes to the cheerleader “who excels on and off the mat.”
Zawisza was nominated and chosen for “her skill and talent as a cheerleader, as well as her academic achievements, her community service as a volunteer youth cheer coach, and her level of dedication to her team for the past four years,” Rowley said.
Zawisza is an honors student at Ansonia High, where she maintained perfect attendance for most of her high school career. She has volunteered as a youth cheerleading coach for four years, and her team won the National Championship twice.
She has been a member of the Human Relations Club at Ansonia Middle School and Ansonia High. Zawisza has been accepted to five colleges and will be deciding soon where she will be pursuing a degree in Criminal Justice and Forensics.
