By standing out athletically on the field as well as academically in the classroom, Souderton’s athletic program celebrates numerous students continuing their academic and athletic careers at Division I schools.
Senior Ashley Paturzo committed to Brown University to play field hockey, study biology and go into pre-med.
Her family has been the biggest motivation for her to pursue athletics.
“Growing up in a household with three brothers has made me incredibly competitive, so from a young age I knew that I wanted to compete at the highest level,” Paturzo said.
Partuzo made the varsity field hockey team her freshman year and earned All-League First Team honors during her sophomore season.
“Spring of my junior year, Brown reached out to me after watching me play and they offered me a spot for the Class of 2024. I ended up committing there to finally achieve my dreams of playing Division I.”
Before the start of her junior year, Paturzo tore her ACL, resulting in 10 months of “very mentally draining” rehabilitation.
“I overcame this feat by just focusing on the process one day at a time. I showed up to the gym and to physical therapy nearly every day to get myself back to where I knew I could be,” Paturzo said.
According to senior McKenna Schroding, she never knew she wanted to play softball in college until the beginning of her sophomore year when she joined her current travel team.
“On my team at the time were mostly senior players who were playing in college. I would say they were a very large part of why I chose to play in college, but also because I loved the sport,” Schroding said.
To learn more about collegiate-level softball, Schroding explored different colleges with the support of her coach.
“After touring multiple different colleges, I decided I wanted to become a Division I pitcher,” Schroding said. “[My coach] has been my biggest motivator and mentor the past three years and I couldn’t have done it without him.”
Schroding committed to the University of South Florida to be a softball pitcher. For Schroding, academics will always come first, as she plans on studying nursing.
“The best way I balance school and softball is by not procrastinating assignments and getting them done as soon as possible after receiving them. What I find most helpful for me is to plan out my week day by day,” Schroding said.
With two seasons left to play at Souderton, junior Tyler Lutz committed to James Madison University for baseball.
“It was a lot of hard work, traveling, dedication and ups and downs, but I was motivated by the dream of one day being able to play at the highest level I could, and hopefully one day take it further,” Lutz said.
Lutz focuses on his school career as well as his athletic career in hopes to one day go into business.
“I try to focus on getting whatever I can do in school so that I can come home and go to practice not worrying about an overload of work needing to be done,” Lutz said.
