Congratulations to Claire Smith, Fridley High School (FHS) senior, who has been named the 2021 Athena Award winner! The Athena Award program honors female high school student-athletes in the Twin Cities region, with one winner selected from each participating Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) school. Determined by the Minneapolis Athena Awards committee, each student is selected based on athletic achievements, academic success, volunteer work and other extracurricular participation.

Smith is a three-sport athlete at FHS, playing hockey, tennis and softball. She has played hockey since kindergarten, and served as captain during her senior year on the Osseo/Park Center Varsity Girls Hockey team. She considers her teammates to be like family, as time spent with them is embedded in some of her favorite high school memories, such as the annual Duluth hockey tournament trips. 

In addition, Smith has served as captain of the Fridley Varsity Girls Tennis team for the past two years and has earned two consecutive All-Conference honorable mentions. She has also played on the Fridley Junior Varsity softball team during grades 8-10.

According to Smith, all her coaches have positive and enthusiastic attitudes and have served as great mentors to her. “They are always supportive and I’m thankful to all of them for everything they’ve done for me over the years,” said Smith. Her Hockey coaches include: Mike Ach, Jeremy Lewis and Chuck Sawicke; Tennis coaches Anthony Branitski and Aaron Quach; and Softball coach Tarek Morey.

In her academic career, Smith has taken advantage of several International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (DP) classes. She is a member of the FHS Minnesota Honor Society, where she participates in the society’s community service projects, and also volunteers for Special Olympics Bowling and her church.

Smith is deeply honored to have been named this year’s Athena Award recipient.  Her longtime teammate, friend and role model and Fridley grad, Olivia Fredrickson, received the award as a senior in 2018. “I’ve always looked up to Olivia,” said Smith. “She’s like my older sister and we’ve played all the same sports. She’s been incredibly inspiring to me, so it’s a great feeling to be following her footsteps in a sense.” Smith said she is also thankful to her parents for all their incredible support over the years.

This fall, Smith plans to attend Saint Cloud State University where she plans to major in accounting.