KU Scholar Athlete of May 2019: Athena Frasca
Multi-Talented Senior Personifies Diversity
- School: Sayre
- GRADE: 12
- Sport: Cross-country, track
- Academics: Athena has a 3.75 GPA, has taken five A.P. classes, scored 31 on the ACT and is co-chair of a youth sustainability group.
- Parents:Zoe Strecker & Michael Frasca
It’s fitting that Athena Frasca belongs to Sayre School’s diversity club. Not only does the 18-year-old senior embrace the values of diversity, she embodies the word.
From athletics to academics to extracurricular activities, Athena has her fingers in many pies – literally. An avid cook, she posts photos of her work in the kitchen on her Instagram account @the_runners_kitchen.
Athena has a 3.75 GPA, scored 31 on the ACT, has taken five A.P. classes and is a member of the National Honor Society and National French Honor Society. She is taking French V this year.
As a sophomore, she won a school citizenship award and last year earned the Vassar Excellence in Modern Language award.
Other accomplishments include taking Bystander Intervention Training, serving as a 4-H camp counselor, and working as a babysitter and lifeguard.
Interested in medicine, she participates in the Surgery on Sunday volunteer program, allowing her to observe various outpatient procedures.
Athena also serves as the co-chair of the Bluegrass Youth Sustainability Council, a group of 50 Lexington high school students who advocate for environmental friendly issues such as using solar energy to power cell phone chargers.
Planners of the Town Branch project, for instance, have taken their suggestions about using biodegradable material for park benches.
“Being around people who care about the same thing as me and getting to know students from around the city is cool,” she said.
Along with being a strong science student, Athena is an avid reader and writer.
She journals daily, and her favorite authors reflect her diverse interests – Toni Morrison, Henry James and Joan Didion.
“Athena is hard-working, efficient and organized,” her mother, Zoe Strecker, said. “She is nimble and adaptable. She is intuitive about some subjects and others she must logic her way through.
“Her biology teacher says that science needs someone like her because she is articulate and can explain science to others.”
Athena plans to study biology in college and is considering a number of Division III schools where she hopes to run track and/or cross-country.
She is captain of those teams at Sayre and has qualified for State competition five times – three in track and two in cross-country. Along with relays, her track events are the 400, 800 and mile.
She runs about 25 miles a week and takes the sport seriously. She breaks into a big smile when she announces that she dead-lifted 235 pounds.
Not many high school Joan Didion fans can make that claim.