Sarah investigates how the world works while getting basketballs in the right place

Senior center Sarah Davis is a standout for Warwick Valley High School’s girls basketball team, but there is more to tell about this week’s Superintendent’s Spotlight.

First, the basketball. In the opening round of the state tourney on Tuesday night – the regional semifinal round of the 2022 NYSPHSAA Girls Basketball Championship – Sarah scored 15 points. She said, however, her role on the team is more about gathering the ball off the offensive and defensive boards. She did a great job of that too, grabbing 11 rebounds during the game.

Sarah – who has been playing basketball since second grade – is one of three captains on the team, along with Lindsey Evans and Meghan Selvaggio.

Sarah has an overall average of 104.6. She is a member of the National Honor Society, and has achieved Summa Cum Laude status for both of the first two marking periods this year.

“I like school,” Sarah said. “I never really had a class where I dreaded what I’m learning. Most things are pretty interesting to me.”

She likes math and science, but her favorite course was AP Chemistry last year.

“I do like the Humanities too,” she said. “I took Art History, which was really interesting to me. And, right now, I am taking AP Psychology. That is also very cool to me.”

Sarah achieved New York State Scholar-Athlete status in 2021. Last year, Sarah was also presented with the Dwight D. Eisenhower Leadership Award, given by the Parents Club of West Point, and the award for Outstanding Achievement & Ability in Mandarin Chinese.

“I like how math and science show you how the world works,” she said. “It’s really cool that you can look at things happening around you and can explain it using what you are learning in chemistry. Like opening a soda bottle. All the fizziness escapes because carbon-dioxide is less soluble when you decrease the pressure and increase the temperature.”

Sarah has already been accepted to Michigan State University where she intends to major in Environmental Biology. She wants to focus on conservation or plant science. And, in her studies she intends to study abroad.

The school extended Sarah a full merit scholarship, including tuition, room and board, and a $1,000 annual stipend. Her acceptance also included entry into the college’s prestigious Professorial Assistantship Program.

Only a select number of incoming college freshmen are appointed to the program. These students are afforded unique and invaluable opportunities to work alongside teaching faculty on “tasks directly related either to scholarly research or to innovative teaching.”

Sarah is currently taking AP Environmental Biology and wants her career to be in the area of climate change research, restoring eco-systems and sustainability.

She was drawn to this area of science because of a freshman year summer reading assignment. In the novel, a dystopian future with a destroyed environment has left Earth unlivable.

“It really freaked me out because there are a lot of similarities to what we are doing today,” Sarah said. “I just wanted to not live in a world that looked like that.”

Since then, she said, she’s made it a point to read about what is going on environmentally and what the world is doing to stop global warming.

Sarah also plays travel volleyball for the Pine Bush Volleyball Club, so when basketball is over then she’ll jump right into club volleyball.