Balancing multiple activities that are important to someone is an ability that can reap rewards for an entire lifetime.

Grace Ward, Andrew Romanchak and Tanner Quiggle have given themselves a nice head start.

All three high school seniors were recently chosen as recipients of the WPIAL Scholar/Athlete Award.

Ward and Romanchak will soon graduate from Freeport High School, while Quiggle will do so from Seneca Valley.

Romanchak does not take the honor lightly.

“There are so many awards that people can get by doing well in sports,” he said, “but to be recognized for both, it makes me feel good.”

Romanchak competes for the Freeport boys track and field team and last fall set the single-season passing yards record for the school’s football team. He will remain on the gridiron at Robert Morris University and major in mechanical engineering.

“In college and even in high school, without academics I wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything in sports because of all the eligibility rules,” he said.

“Academics always come before athletics,” he added. “That’s how it’s been taught to me and that’s what I believe.”

Making the cut in athletics and the grade in the classroom can sometimes be too much for a student athlete. It almost was for Ward.

“My junior year was very difficult, even overwhelming at times,” said the girls volleyball and track star. “I was thinking about either dropping my honors classes or not coming out for the track team this year. But I figured if I was able to get through it as a junior, I could do it again. It’s been tough, but well worth it.”

Ward’s persistence has earned her a QPA of 4.66. She will major in human development/family studies at Penn State University.

“Taking the hard classes has helped me with my study skills,” she said. “I don’t pick things up quickly. I have to really study something to understand it.”

All three local recipients of the award are members of the National Honor Society.

The key to success is time management, something Quiggle is very familiar with. He has excelled as a member of the indoor and outdoor track and cross country teams at Seneca Valley.

“At our house, there’s a calendar that has everything written on it, so I know what I have to do and when I have to do it,” he said.

His strict work ethic has earned Quiggle valedictorian of his class and a spot in the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State, where he will study biomedical engineering.

But even he admits that acing an exam is far from a sure thing.

“I’ve walked into a classroom for a test, feeling like I was not prepared enough,” said Quiggle, who will run track and cross country in college. “But that’s how you learn. You have to be proactive and work ahead. Don’t wait until the last minute to study or do homework.”

Ward’s routine proves that each person needs to find his or her own comfort zone.

“I’ve discovered that I study really well in the morning,” she said. “If I get back from a game and it’s late, I try to be in bed by midnight. I’ll wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning and study. I can’t study well right after a game.”

Ten males and 10 females were chosen for the award out of 79 and 74 applications, respectively.