Here’s how St. Joseph’s Aidan Cross and Isabelle Warren earned Snyder Award recognition
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Aidan Cross and Isabelle Warren will each leave their high school careers behind with an award in tow.
Cross and Warren were recognized Thursday as Snyder Award winners as part of SJCA’s virtual awards ceremony. The graduating high school seniors were honored with the awards on the back of their contributions to the Wolfpack basketball, cross country and track and field teams, as well as their achievements away from sports.
Both honorees felt the other was plenty deserving of the award.
“I’ve been pretty good friends with Aidan for the past year and a half,” Warren said. “It’s cool knowing that he put in the work, and I put in the work, and we can stand with this award together.”
Added Cross: “It’s an honor to win this award alongside Izzy, considering she’s accomplished a heck of a lot more than I have.”
The James H. Snyder Awards are given in memory of Snyder, a former Centre Daily Times sports editor who was killed in an automobile crash in December of 1957. The awards have become an annual county staple celebrating the community’s young leaders, a pair of seniors from each of the county’s five public high schools plus St. Joe’s who embrace academics, athletics and community service.
Both Cross and Warren found success within the confines of the sporting world in their time at St. Joseph’s.
Cross finished second on the boys’ basketball team as a senior with 10.1 points per game, according to MaxPreps, and was a team captain in his final season. He left his biggest mark as a runner in high school, qualifying for the PIAA Cross Country Championships as a senior, even though he considered basketball his main sport.
“I’ve been primarily a basketball player my entire life,” he said. “I picked up cross country after a friend asked me to do it. … I ended up really enjoying it and we accomplished everything we set out to do.”
Warren competed in gymnastics and several track and field events in her time at St. Joseph’s, but especially excelled at the triple jump. Her greatest achievement in her high school career came as a junior with the track and field team, when she finished on the podium in the triple jump.
“I took fifth place,” she said. “That was really satisfying because of all of the work I put in.”
Both award winners excelled in the classroom, along with all of their athletic achievements. Cross finished fourth in the 2020 graduating class in terms of grade-point average. He plans to attend either Penn State or the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota), where he’ll major in either electrical engineering or biomedical engineering.
“One of the things I want to do in my career is be able to help people,” Cross said. “I figured this would be a nice way to do that.”
Warren finished 14th in the class and plans to attend Monmouth University, where she’ll study business administration with a concentration in marketing, decision sciences and management, while also competing in track and field. Cross and Warren were both members of the National Honors Society at St. Joe’s.
Warren had roles in musicals such as “The Little Mermaid” and “Greece,” and sang with the music ministry during Mass at the Catholic school. As a senior, she also helped organize the first mini-Thon event at St. Joe’s to support the fight against pediatric cancer, which raised $8,645.
“I was a part of my middle school’s mini-Thon for two years and I found a passion for the cause of Four Diamonds,” she said. “I thought this was the perfect opportunity to bring my school closer and to do something that’s bigger than ourselves.”
Cross organized a food drive for the State College Food Bank at the beginning of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“It was a quick and effective way to help out a bunch of people in our area who need it most,” he said.
Both Cross and Warren were grateful for their experiences at St. Joe’s, and believe they will help put them in position to have success in the future.
“All of the teachers there are great,” Cross said. “They’ve taught me so many lessons beyond the general curriculum. The biggest thing I’ve learned is to not worry about what you can’t control.”
Added Warren: “Going to St. Joe’s has changed me as a person. I’ve become so much more confident and so much more of a leader. I don’t even know how I was who I was when I was a freshman.”
This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 10:40 PM.
