Prep Sports: Mercer's Grant, Boyle's Howell named Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year

While both have a passion for athletics, Michelle Howell of Boyle County and Alli Grant of Mercer County are also just as passionate about academics and community service.
That’s why the two seniors have been named the Danville Office Equipment Female Scholar-Athletes of the Year.
Both have 4.1 grade-point averages. Grant made a 31 on the ACT, Howell a 28. Grant is headed to the University of Louisville, where she plans a  double major in biology and sign language with a pre-med emphasis so she can one day become a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon and work with the Children’s Miracle Network. Howell will attend the University of the South to take advantage of its liberal arts programs since she is undecided about her major.
“This honor is certainly unexpected,”¿said Howell, who played basketball. “This is really a nice award and something  you don’t think about getting.”
She knows Grant well through a mutual friendship with Boyle senior Sarah Jane Tamme, and both also date Mercer baseball players.
“She is great. I couldn’t think of anybody more deserving of the award more than her,” Howell said. “She has accomplished a lot and it is quite an accomplishment to be in the same category of someone of that caliber.”
Grant said she was “shocked” to be a co-winner of this award.
“Our athletics director told me he was nominating me, but I never thought about winning,” she said. “Actually, I kind of forgot about being nominated because you just don’t expect to win something like this.”
Boyle principal Will Begley knows both Howell and Grant and thinks both are deserving winners.
“Both are way above average with the activities they are involved in,” Begley said. “Michelle had two ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears (in her knee) she overcame to be a contributor to her team as a senior and that tells you how much she loved her sport and being around her teammates. Alli has that same kind of determination.”
Here’s a more complete look at what each girl has accomplished and been involved in during their high school years.