Grand County High School’s students of the month for October 2015 are Heather Sweeney and Rowan Antonuccio. Both are juniors.
Sweeney is the daughter of Judy and Dennis Sweeney. She said her favorite classes are geography and math.
“Geography is one of my favorite classes because I like learning about different cultures and Mrs. Labrec has some pretty rad stories about the countries she has gone to,” she said.
She also added, “My most challenging class is Spanish because there are so many rules and words that you have to learn.”
Sweeney’s in-school activities consist of multiple clubs and sports, including National Honor Society, the Moab Red Devil Mountain Bike team, Science Olympiad, soccer, track and swimming. Outside of school, Sweeney volunteers at the Moab City Recreation Center, teaching kids in grades K-6 how to play soccer. She has also started a business in Salt Lake City with fellow student Jayelen Knowles recycling milk cartons and turning them into plant trays. After high school, Sweeney plans to go to the University of California, Berkeley and study either civil or chemical engineering.
Antonuccio is the son of Marc Antonuccio and Molly McClish.
Antonuccio says his favorite class is ceramics because “it is relating and fun.”
“I also like English because writing is fun and I like novels,” he said.
Antonuccio also added, “Math is definitely one of my harder classes along with Spanish. Spanish is just different.”
Antonuccio is a member of the National Honor Society. Outside school, he works for Turner Lumber, where he has been employed for four months.
“Working consumes most of my after school free time,” he said, adding that he does find time to volunteer to clean up the parks from time to time. Antonuccio says he plans on going to college at Utah State University in Logan to become an engineer in computing.
The local Elk’s Lodge sponsors Grand County High School’s Student of the Month program under the direction of Frank Vaccaro. Jeff Richards is the high school coordinator. The Elks started the program to recognize students who are outstanding in the areas of character, leadership, service, citizenship and scholastic performance. The students are also recognized by the Rotary Club and Grand County School District Board of Education.
