Student Spotlight

Tony Wilborn is an honor student at Grady High School, and also a track star who participated in the 2012 AAU Junior Olympics.  The AAU Junior Olympic Games is the largest, national, multi-sporting event for the youth, with approximately 15,000 participants from around the country. Tony ran in the 4x4 Relay with his AAU star track team at Lakewood Stadium and came in 2^nd place to qualify.

Tony started running in 8^th grade, as an alternative to basketball. He continued to win many races and became serious about the sport.  His record time for the 400 meter run is 51.8 seconds, which is only 8.6 seconds behind the current men’s world record by American Michael Johnson of 41.2 seconds.  This summer, Tony’s AAU track team ran at 5-6 meets on a weekly basis and continued on towards the Junior Olympics in late July.  Tony’s training routine consisted of lifting weights at 8 a.m. every morning, water aerobics 5 times a week, and running track in the evenings. He continued running and training everyday even when he had a pulled hamstring. “It made it worse, but I pushed through it,” says Tony.

Unlike many high school students, Tony actually enjoys school. He is always willing to take unrelated classes, even though he may not have any interest in the subject initially. “I like being thrown into random classes such as engineering, sports writing, film making, and engineering, because I still enjoy those classes and it actually helped me settle on a career,” Tony says. As a result of his sports writing class, he has decided to pursue a career in sports writing or sports medicine. He is a high performing student with an attitude and determination to succeed in everything he does.  “Tony is the paradigmatic Renaissance man,” says WillieVincent, academy leader at Grady High School. “He always accepts challengeswith humility, optimizes the new experiences, and performs at an exemplarylevel. He is an awesome young man.”