How Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Natalie Page and Samuel Yangula earned Snyder Award recognition
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2022 Snyder Awards
The James H. Snyder Awards are given annually in memory of Snyder, a former Centre Daily Times sports editor who was killed in an automobile crash in December of 1957. Stories on all of Centre County’s Snyder Award winners will run together in print on June 12, after they’re all announced.
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Two Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy seniors will end their high school careers with an award in hand.
Natalie Page and Samuel Yangula were named their school’s Snyder Awards winners Wednesday night after excelling in academics, athletics and in their community.
Winning the award meant more to Page and Yangula because of who they won it with.
“It’s really important to me,” Page said. “We’ve been growing up together for the past four years. I got to play soccer with him this year and so that was a really special opportunity. I’ve seen how hard he’s worked.”
“It feels really great,” Yangula said. “I didn’t really expect to win this award. It’s very humbling.”
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 Saint Joseph’s who embrace academics, athletics and community service.
Page and Yangula both played soccer in their four years at SJCA, with the former also playing a year of basketball as well.
Yangula’s most distinct athletic memory from his time with the WolfPack came when he and his teammates won the district title this season in soccer.
“We started the team when I was a freshman and we didn’t win a single game,” he said. “We made the playoffs sophomore year and we had the goal to win a district championship. ... Going into that game I knew it was our last shot for the seniors to win it. Just the feeling at the end when they blew the final whistle was amazing.”
Page shared that memory with Yangula, playing with him on the school’s co-ed soccer team, and said it was her favorite as well.
“I saw how hard the team worked for that goal,” Page said. “Having that moment come full circle, obviously soccer is one of my favorite sports, and that was really special to me — being able to win with the team.”
The two seniors made those memories on the soccer field, but were also beneficial to their communities in their times at the Boalsburg high school.
Page volunteered her time as a counselor at Camp Confidence — a nonprofit, weeklong summer camp for individuals, ages 3-21, with disabilities — while also volunteering at Housing Transitions. She went well beyond her required 100 volunteer hours, according to SJCA athletic director Justin Rodkey, and completed the most hours of any student while maintaining a grade point average over 4.0.
The high school senior said her time at Camp Confidence stood out most.
“I take a lot of my friends out there,” Page said. “It’s a fun week for all of us. The impact on the kids is really special.”
Like Page, Yangula also kept a GPA over 4.0 and spent time helping out in the community. He was an altar server at his church while also assisting with fish fries during Lent at church, but it was his most recent service day with the school that set itself apart.
“We spread mulch at the Boal Mansion,” he said. “What was cool about that was — as neat as it is to do things that are service related by yourself — doing it with your friends and just coming together and doing something for someone else, there’s a greater sense of service there.”
The high school seniors hope to carry their successes away from sports into their futures in college.
Page will be attending Bloomsburg University, where she will major in nursing. She wants to be a nurse to help people, and to specifically help children.
“I always loved working with kids,” she said. “For a long time I wanted to be a teacher because of that. But then I realized I was interested in the sciences and that aspect of people. So I decided to mix those and go into pediatric nursing.”
Yangula will be heading to Penn State to major in computer science and wants to explore the field after discovering it as an elective in high school.
“It grew on me and I got better at it as (the elective) went on,” he said. “I like math and math has always been a strong suit. It incorporates math and it’s kind of like a puzzle. It’s a field that’s in demand and you can do a lot with it and help people. I liked the versatility of the field and the elective just made an impact on me.”
Their plans in the future were — in part — shaped by their academic and athletic at the high school level. They grew in their four years at the school and that’s something they both give credit to Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy for helping them do.
“The senior class, we always got along well and were good friends,” Yangula said. “This year we got extremely tight. It just made everything so much easier. It’s pretty crazy to have twenty-plus people that care deeply about you and you’re basically just as good of friends with all 20.”
Page added: “The small class size and community has helped me to step up into leadership roles. I feel like I wouldn’t be able to get those chances at a bigger school. At St. Joe’s, I’ve gotten to know my teachers better, I know my whole class. That’s really impacted me and helped me to grow as a person in that smaller environment.”
This story was originally published May 18, 2022 at 8:00 PM.
