Henckel lauds Geibel education
?The experiences at Geibel Catholic High School are among those that Christian Henckel would never trade. “I honestly feel that my education from Geibel Catholic will give me a distinct advantage at college, and I would never choose to go anywhere else if I could pick my high school again,” Henckel said.
The son of Brian and Heidi Henckel, of Mount Pleasant, he maintained a 4.045 grade-point average in high school and a class rank of 10th of 46 seniors. He also has a younger sister, Alexa.
Henckel’s success in athletics and the classroom earned his selection as Geibel Catholic’s 2011 male scholar/athlete. He will attend Penn State Behrend in the Honors Engineering program.
Scholar/athletes who represent the county’s seven high schools, as well as two students at Penn State Fayette, will be honored during the third annual Fayette County Sports Hall of Fame Induction Banquet on Saturday, June 25, at Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus.
Henckel was a member of the football and basketball teams, and played baseball for several seasons. He was active in the Math League, National Honor Society, French National Honor Society, assisted with junior varsity sports, and volunteered at various fundraisers. He was active with Relay for Life, enjoys skiing and reading, and was a volunteer for the St. John the Baptist School Mardi Gras.
When asked to name his favorite sports moment at Geibel Catholic, Henckel said, “I can’t separate a single game from my senior football season. The whole season was a memory that I will never forget. Every time I stepped onto the field, I felt like it was all mine. It’s a feeling that will never be replaced for me.”
He faced one major injury in his athletic career, suffering a concussion in the next to last football game last season that forced him to miss the final game.
“That was a very difficult week of practice for me and hard to not be a part the (final) game,” Henckel said.
He said his biggest role model was, “Mr. (Larry) Orlando, the calculus teacher at Geibel. He has a way about him that makes his students want to be better. He is a great teacher and a great man.”
As for managing studies and activities, he said, “For the most part, managing studies and athletics hasn’t been too difficult for me. Don’t get me wrong, there have been times where I’ve felt overwhelmed. But usually I handled it well.”
The advice he would offer fellow students is, “Two things: determination and having your priorities in line. When you play multiple sports and plan on achieving high marks academically in high school, those have to be your highest priorities. Spending time with your friends after school rarely happens unless they are members of your team and you just have to accept it.”