Molly Fisher, Eric Whitlow named top frosh

Scott Swanson

Molly Fisher and Eric Whitlow are this year’s Sweet Home High School Freshmen of the Year, selected by a panel of school faculty.

Fisher, 15, is the daughter of Martha Wells and Jerry Fisher. She has a “3.8-ish” GPA and has been active in a variety of school activities, including volleyball and softball, Class Board, Leadership, Josai Club, the Huskian school newspaper and Timber Echo yearbook and the Milli Vanilli lip-synch competition.

“I’ve played sports since I was a little girl,” she said.

She’s also worked in concessions at Husky Field, for the track and field program and for Josai, and has assisted at Dr. Seuss Night at Foster School and at Sweet Home Emergency Ministries.

The Josai Japanese exchange program has played a big role in her family, said Fisher, who plans to be a member of the next Sweet Home summer delegation to go to Japan, as most of her siblings – Jeremy, Kelsey, Hailey and Stacey – were. They also hosted Mizuki Yoshizawa for a school year several years ago.

“Almost all my siblings were involved,” she said. “Ever since I was little, we’ve had them stay with us. I think it’s a great cultural experience that can help you broaden your horizons and learn things you might not know, and get rid of stereotypes you might have about other people. “

Up till this year, she said, she’s helped her mother in the track concession stands.

“It’s always fun to help out,” she said. “I’ve been doing this since I was a little girl. This year I was playing softball and my mom didn’t have anybody in track.”

Whitlow, also 15 and also with a GPA in the same range as Fisher’s, is the son of Steve and Desiree Whitlow. He has two older brothers, Alex and Jason.

He’s been involved with football and track as a freshman and he “definitely” prefers the gridiron so far, he said .

“Football is my favorite sport. I did track just to try it out.”

He’s also been involved in Leadership and in church activities at Community Chapel, where he’s active in the youth group.

He said he found the Leadership class eye-opening.

“It was really interesting to see how everything worked behind the scenes,” he said. “You never think about that when you go to all the events and stuff, how complicated it is.”

He enjoys English – at least the reading – and “I’ve always had a knack for math. It’s something I’ve found to be fun.”

In addition to church, he’s helped out at the Oregon Jamboree, running showers, and he’s worked at SHEM.

“Being involved in the community, you get to know people you don’t see on a daily basis,” Whitlow said. “Especially at SHEM, you see the people you help. That’s really cool.”

Both said they were surprised that they were selected for the honor.

“It was really cool,” Whitlow said. “I honestly didn’t think I would win it. Going into the assembly, I didn’t think I would be the one. There were a lot of other people out there.”

Fisher said “it was a great honor” to be selected.

“There were a lot of good candidates for the position,” she said.

The surprise only lasted so long, though, Whitlow noted.

“I saw my family sitting in the front row, so I figured I had won something.”

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