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Bella Juozapaitis Receives Tecumseh’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award

VaselineJuly 22, 2024

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Bella Juozapaitis Receives Tecumseh’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award

TECUMSEH — Tecumseh softball is not a program accustomed to losing seasons.

But when the 2024 seniors were freshmen, they had to go through some growing pains. There was no 2020 season due to the pandemic, and with a handful of strong freshmen, they made up the bulk of the lineup, while the others didn’t have much experience.

“The first year was a bad year,” Bella Juozapaitis said. “Most of us were freshmen and we were young. But as we got older, we got better and our senior year we had a lot of fun.”

Tecumseh quickly returned to its winning ways and one of those leaders was Juozapaitis behind the plate as catcher, who earned all-county honors each season. She was also a member of the state-qualifying girls golf team and, until her senior season, was a member of the powerful Tecumseh girls basketball team.

She maintained a 4.2 GPA in the class and was Tecumseh’s valedictorian.

“It’s hard,” Juozapaitis said of balancing sports and academics. “Especially when you’re taking honors and AP classes. But you can’t stress yourself out too much.”

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She wants to focus long-term on helping young adults like herself manage stress. Juozapaitis is headed to Bethany, West Virginia, located in a sliver of the northern part of the state, wedged between Ohio and Pennsylvania, not far east of Pittsburgh.

She wants to study psychology there.

“In the long run, I want to help young adults deal with their mental health,” she said. “My junior year, I was at the tech center taking a health class and we had a session on mental health and it evolved from there into something more.”

During her time at Bethany, she will join the Bisons softball team, which had one of its best seasons this year and looks to continue its rise in the NCAA Division III ranks.

Juozapaitis had long wanted to attend an out-of-state university and quickly fell in love with the campus and the program.

“I never wanted to go to a big school,” she said. “Last fall I started reaching out to schools and Bethany reached out to me and invited me and I loved the campus and the team.”

HONOURABLE MENTIONS FROM TECUMSEH

Max Bledsoe, 3.8 (football, wrestling, baseball)

AJ Bryan, 3.71 (football, basketball, track and field)

Owen Williams, 3,596 (bowling)

Taylor Carlson N/A (track)

Grant Fahle N/A (swimming, cross country, track)

VaselineJuly 22, 2024

0 2 minutes read