State High seniors earn Snyder Awards for contributions to school, athletics, community
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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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State High gave out an annual honor to two seniors Tuesday night.
John Brownstead and Kylie Ehrensberger were named their school’s Snyder Awards winners after excelling in academics, athletics and in their community.
Brownstead and Ehrensberger were both happy to have won the award, which was given to them at the high school’s award ceremony.
“I was just amazed,” Ehrensberger told the Centre Daily Times. “I was not expecting in any way to receive this award. I was incredibly grateful for the opportunity. I was just awestruck.”
Brownstead added: “It was awesome. It was the crowning achievement of my year. To see all of your goals come to fruition with an award like this that recognizes all of the work you’ve put in, it’s just awesome.”
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 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.
Brownstead excelled on the swimming and diving team at State High, where he was an all-state selection and a team captain. It’s his time at practice with his teammates that stands out in his time as a high school athlete.
“Honestly, it was just going to practice every day and hanging out with the guys,” he said. “Going through some tough workouts, and it might be a stressful situation, but you’ve got all your friends there doing the same thing and there’s a lot of camaraderie there.”
Ehrensberger competed in softball and tennis, as well as with the unified bocce team as a Little Lion. Among her many accomplishments, this year’s postseason run with the softball team was the one that stood out the most.
“This year our softball team had a great run in the Mid Penn,” she said. “We won the Mid Penn Championship for the first time in school history. The bus ride home from that, the energy was just amazing. Everyone was ecstatic.”
While both were excellent athletes in their four years at State High, they also contributed plenty away from the games they love.
Ehrensberger volunteered for Mini-THON, took part in PULSE, which is the school’s student-athlete leadership committee and Best Buddies — an organization that creates partnerships between people with disabilities and without.
Her contributions to several of those activities allowed her to make memories as a student.
“Throughout my time in high school I got to watch a lot of people come together in super unique ways,” Ehrensberger said. “...In my time at State high, I got to see the school environment become a lot more inclusive as I watched those different friendships foster and form.”
Brownstead contributed his time away from the pool as an Eagle Scout, along with joining the Future Business Leaders of America, tutoring and earning a job at Penn State’s Applied Research Lab.
He most cherished his time tutoring and being an Eagle Scout.
“As part of the National Honor Society at State High they have a peer tutoring center, so I tutored some people at our school,” he said. “I just really enjoyed working with people and trying to understand what they understand and watching them get better. I had a student come up to me a couple days ago and tell me they aced their last test. That really stood out to me. ... Then my work with the Eagle Scouts, because I was able to go on a lot of cool trips with the scouts. Wherever we went, wherever we traveled, we did community service.”
Now that their high school careers are coming to a close, both have begun planning out their futures.
Brownstead will be attending Penn State where he’ll major in engineering science. He plans to explore the possibilities with his degree.
“I do know I like the engineering process,” he said. “I just wanna understand how things work, I wanna apply my knowledge in a novel situation and see if I can make stuff more efficient or see if I can develop a new product that makes peoples lives either.”
Ehrensberger will also attend Penn State, where she’ll major in elementary and early childhood education with a minor in special education. She chose her major and minor because she wants to help shape the next generation.
“I originally started out high school wanting to be a pediatric nurse,” she said. “Then I realized throughout my time within the programs at State High that I really had a love for teaching children of younger ages. ... I just love getting to see younger kids interact with each other. I think it’s super important that they have good role models in their life that can teach them the right things to do, because they are the future.”
The two Little Lions were both shaped by their time at State High, and believe it helped them become who they are today.
“I found groups of friends and teachers and staff that were just amazing support systems,” Ehrensberger said. “They were always friendly faces in the hallway. I was never scared that there wouldn’t be someone there for me. Having that support system was great, and it provided me with so many opportunities.”
Brownstead added: “State High is a great school. They have a lot of opportunities and they have a lot of resources that go to clubs and extracurricular activities and sports and all that stuff. In addition to that, there are people there that are really supportive. It’s just a really supportive environment that allows you to pursue what you’re interested in.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2022 at 11:40 PM.
