Hard work pays off for Pockstaller
A trip to the mailbox convinced Sara Pockstaller what parents, teachers and coaches had been telling her all along. “I never thought I would get to the point where I would get a scholarship,” Pockstaller said. “It shows that if work hard, you can get what you want.”
Because of Pockstaller’s hard work both academically and athletically, she was selected as the top female student/athlete at Connellsville Area High School and will receive a $500 scholarship through the Davis & Davis Student/Athlete Scholarship Program.
The program, sponsored by Davis and Davis Law Firm and coordinated by the Herald-Standard, will culminate with a banquet to be held at 5 p.m. Sunday at Shady Side Inn.
Pockstaller, the daughter of John and Cheryl Pockstaller of Dunbar, played volleyball, softball and basketball during high school and was invited to a tryout at Saint Vincent College in January.
“When I got there, there were about 30 high school girls and I thought I was never going to get one of the six scholarships. I started checking the mail in February, and when it didn’t arrive right away, I sort of had the mindset that I wasn’t going to get it.
“They told us when we tried out that we would receive a letter no matter what, even if we didn’t get a scholarship. So, when it finally came, I thought the letter was just thanking me for trying out. It was so unbelievable. I opened it up and told my dad I got a scholarship. After all those years of putting in a lot of work, it finally paid off. It gave me a lot of confidence.”
Pockstaller finished high school with a 3.6 grade point average with a class ranking of 22 out of 375. She will further her academic and athletic careers at Saint Vincent College, where she will major in English and minor in Spanish.
Volleyball wasn’t the only sport in which Pockstaller excelled, having played four years of both softball and basketball. While making the playoffs all four seasons as a member of the Lady Falcons’ softball squad, Pockstaller may have grown the most as a person on the basketball court.
With the unenviable task of backing up center Bethany Swink, who started as a freshman at St. Francis University, Pockstaller made the most of the situation.
“I played defense on Beth in practice and it made me think of how I wanted to play so I could perform well and how I could improve.
Pockstaller took over the center position after Swink graduated and had one of her best career games against Uniontown, scoring 23 points.
“The first time we played them, we lost by about 30 points,” Pockstaller said. “The second time, we played them, they only beat us by five but it was a really good game for us. It really was good for our team.”
Academically, Pockstaller was, in a word, busy. She was a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Student Council, Senior Class President, Girls Athletic Club, Try-Hi-Y, Prom Committee, Who’s Who Among High School Students, Who’s Who Among High School Athletes, Library Aid and the Gifted Program.
Pockstaller also wore the crown of Snow Princess and was nominated for the Wendy’s High School Heisman Award.
In the Gifted Program, Pockstaller was given the choice to pursue any topic she wanted and allotted the time to work with and explore various aspects of it. She chose photography.
“I had the opportunity to learn a lot about photography. I took the pictures and learned how to develop them in black and white. I learned photographers really do a lot of work.”
On the lighter side, Pockstaller took a turn as the school’s mascot her senior season.
“A lot of my friends were cheerleaders and they would come to my games and cheer me on and it was a lot of fun to be on the field with them.”
Pockstaller credits her parents – “Who traveled everywhere with me. They went to every one of my games” – as being her role models. She also said high school taught her to be open-minded.
“I’ve learned to cherish the friendships I’ve made and that you can’t judge anyone about how you think they are until you’ve talked to them. I also learned that even if you don’t reach a goal, you can be proud to say you gave it your best shot.”