Meghan Derken Wins Scholarship Award

Kyle Nolan, formerly of and Meghan Derken, formerly of are the inaugural winners of the Achieve Athletics Scholarship Award. 

The Scholarship Award is presented annually to one male and one female student-athlete who embodies three elements of the Achieve Athletics brand message: being a leader, excelling on the athletic field, and understanding that performance is equally important both on and off the field. The company, based out of Branford, held an awards ceremony during the Branford Basketball Tournament. You can take a look at the 2012 Achieve Athletics Scholarship nominees on their company Facebook page.

Meghan Derken, now a student-athlete at the University of Chicago, was an All-New England soccer player and All-State track athlete at Hand High School last year. Meghan is very involved in her community and has volunteered at a number of charity events, including the Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome, the Crop Walk for Hunger, Roses for Autism events, and the Madison Triathlon.

, now a post-graduate student at Choate Rosemary Hall who recently committed to Georgetown University, was a football and basketball star at Branford High School last year. During his sophomore year in high school, Kyle was diagnosed with a major heart ailment that required immediate reconstructive open heart surgery. Despite this medical hardship, Kyle overcame his operation and went on to captain the varsity football and basketball teams at Branford High. He was one of three quarterbacks in the state of Connecticut selected to play in the Governor’s Cup. At Choate, he made the Class A All-New England team as a quarterback. At Branford High School, Kyle also excelled in the classroom as a member of the National Honor Society and gave back to his community through a number of charity events in town.

“These two athletes were perfect for our inaugural award,” said Achieve Athletics CEO Tom White. “They both achieve at a high level on and off the field.”

You can read more about Achieve Athletics and their mission by visiting their website at achieveathletics.com. You can also follow them on Facebook and on Twitter @achieveonline.