Meet the winners of Bethesda Magazine's third annual Extraordinary Teen Awards—12 students whose academic accomplishments, extracurricular activities and volunteer service demonstrate a desire to succeed and give back to their communities.
From a world-class hockey player to an aspiring engineer inventing new products in his basement laboratory, these teens shine in true Renaissance style.
To view a video of the 2012 Extraordinary Teens, click here.
Haley Skarupa
Senior, Thomas S. Wootton High School
Rockville’s Haley Skarupa, 18, learned about hockey by watching her older brother, Dylan, play.
Eventually she begged to go on the ice, and by age 7 she was playing on a boys’ travel team.
Her skills and her speed soon set her apart. By the time she was a freshman at Wootton, she was playing on the boys’ varsity team alongside her brother, then a senior. Their team won the state title that year.
In 2008, Haley made the cut for Washington Pride, an elite youth hockey team in the Junior Women’s Hockey League; she was unanimously voted the league’s top player last year. In 2009, at 15, she became one of the youngest players ever to be named to the U.S. Women’s National Under-18 Team. That season, the team won the silver medal at the International Ice Hockey Federation Under-18 Women’s World Championship; the following year it won the gold.
Haley scored a record-breaking 11 goals during this year’s World Championship games in the Czech Republic, leading her team to the silver medal.
Haley also was one of the youngest players named to the U.S. Women’s National Team, made up of the country’s top players, and played with the team at the 2010 Four Nations Cup in Newfoundland.
Other accomplishments: Wootton counselor Robert Kurtz says that even with her tight schedule and time away, “Haley is the epitome of [a] scholar-athlete.” She has a weighted GPA of 4.2 and has made the honor roll every year. She also is a member of Wootton’s yearbook club and the Spanish Honor Society.
What others say: “She is the best player, bar none, in the world in her age group,” Washington Pride coach Kush Sidhu says. “She is such a rare talent.”
What her future holds: Haley, whose mom, Penny, is a Bethesda Magazine advertising account executive, will play for Boston College and hopes to make the U.S. Olympic Team.
