GC sophomore will try something new
GROVE CITY — Anna Burtch was conflicted about leaving her Grove City High girls basketball teammates toward the end of the season.
But this was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.
Burtch, a sophomore guard for the Eagles, will leave in early February for a month-long trip to study in New Zealand.
She will do her Grove City High class work online and will also study chemistry with her cousin, Dr. Abby Albright, who is a freelance chemist in New Zealand and Australia.
“Basically, she has been talking for a long time about international travel and seeing the world,” said Anna’s father, Chris Burtch. “She comes from a family of international travelers.”
Anna, 16, plays mostly junior varsity basketball for Grove City.
“Basketball has been such a huge part of her life,” said Chris, who was the head coach of the Slippery Rock boys basketball team until 2002. “She’s going to miss her teammates during the month that she is gone.”
Anna, though, will get to experience a different country and a different culture up close.
That’s something she said she is most looking forward to.
“It was hard leaving, but in 10 years from now I’m not going to be looking back at my sophomore year of basketball,” Anna said. “I’m going to be looking back on this experience.”
Anna is among the JV leaders in scoring and is leading the junior varsity in assists as the point guard.
Grove City’s JV team is 13-1.
In addition to her Grove City and chemistry workload, Anna is going on a 300-kilometer, six-day bike ride and will also spend time at Hobbiton where the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed.
“I’m going to be very busy,” Anna said. “I’m going to miss my family.”
Chris Burtch said he was thankful for how helpful the Grove City School District was in making arrangements for Anna to make the trip.
“(Grove City High principal) Dr. Rae Lin Howard has been great,” Chris said. “Grove City has been very accommodating.”
