Will Fath, track
Will Fath is a track athlete who also played football at Jefferson-Morgan.
He also maintained a 3.9 GPA and will study computer science in college.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to go to the University of Vermont,鈥� Fath said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a little bit far away, but I want to get out there.鈥�
Actually, Fath chose Vermont because it is the closest to home of his college choices.
鈥淚 am a huge skier, that鈥檚 one of the biggest things in my life,鈥� Fath said. 鈥淚 wanted to go somewhere where I could do that and I wanted to get out of Pennsylvania, to experience something else, something new and different. It was either Utah, Colorado, big ski areas. Vermont was the best place for me. It is close enough that I can get home if needed, yet far enough away that I won鈥檛 feel like it鈥檚 the same thing all over again.鈥�
Fath is Jefferson-Morgan鈥檚 spring sports male selection in the Centennial Chevrolet Scholar/Athlete Spotlight program. The son of Mike and Kelly Fath, of Rices Landing, he has a younger sister, Betsy, who is home schooled.
鈥淚n previous years, I鈥檝e been a runner and jumper, a little bit of everything,鈥� Fath said. 鈥淭his year, I鈥檝e mainly focused on my throwing events, javelin in particular. In the past I had qualified for the WPIAL meet, but I had a goal I wanted to hit and I wasn鈥檛 going to go just because I had qualified. I didn鈥檛 meet my expectations, so I didn鈥檛 think I deserved to perform there.鈥�
Fath is used to being undersized and overlooked. He is tall and thin, yet is a thrower in track and was a lineman in football.
鈥淚 threw everything, shot, discus, javelin, against people who were a lot bigger than me,鈥� Fath said. 鈥淚t was a lot like football. I was a lineman going against a lot of people who were a lot bigger than me. But I鈥檝e always been able to hold my own.鈥�
And he did for, as old-fashioned as it may sound, school spirit.
鈥淚 think school spirit is pretty important,鈥� Fath said. 鈥淭his is a pretty small town, everybody knows everybody. The school you come from is like your home. It鈥檚 where my family is and the people I鈥檝e grown up with since I was in kindergarten. That鈥檚 going to be the weirdest thing about moving up to Vermont is that I won鈥檛 be around them anymore.鈥�
Speaking of Vermont, Fath believes he will be starting on the ground level in learning all there is to know about computers.
鈥淲e have a very basic HTML class, so I鈥檓 pretty much starting from scratch with it,鈥� Fath said. 鈥淚鈥檝e done some studying at home, but they start from the ground up at Vermont for people who have never programmed before, so I鈥檒l be able to learn everything, as long as I put in the work and I鈥檓 willing to. Computer science is more than just programming. There are a bunch of different sub-fields. I know I want to work with computers, so it鈥檚 just a matter of learning what I want to do and making sure I love it.鈥�
Fath doesn鈥檛 plan on playing intercollegiate sports at Vermont, but he isn鈥檛 quite ruling it out, either.
鈥淎 lot of the sports up there are DI, so I know I鈥檓 not at that level,鈥� Fath said. 鈥淏ut they do have a lot of club sports that I could easily participate in 鈥� as well as a ski club, which I know I will participate in. They have a competitive team that is one of the top programs in the nation. They have had a few go to the Olympics. They don鈥檛 have football, but they do have track. I guess I could mess around with that a little bit.鈥�