Athletics, Arts, Academics

Excelling runs In

the family

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Brittany Gorres has very little free time, but that fact doesn't bother her very much.

"I have two weeks off in between sports, so I can come home and sit around," she admits. "But I would be bored if I had to do that all the time."

Instead, she occupies her time with varsity tennis, basketball and softball, marching and pep band, two youth groups, the National Honor Society and her job as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the pool.

"It's not so much that I have to do it, I want to," Gorres said.

She recently represented the region in the Minnesota State High School League's Triple 'A' award competition. The three As represent areas in which applicants excel -- athletics, arts and academics.

According to Mark Woodbury, activities director for New Ulm Public Schools, Gorres is the first representative from New Ulm to make it to state competition. She lettered in all three sports she plays and was voted all-conference in tennis and basketball.

She's a section leader in the band and has made it to the Superior State Solo Ensemble.

She was chosen by a committee as the New Ulm representative after she applied and wrote an essay on how being involved with athletics and fine arts is going to help her in the future. The essay went to another, regional committee and then passed to yet another selection committee on the state level. On a statewide level, there are two winners -- one male, one female and each gets a $1,000-per year scholarship for college.

Gorres went up against seven others in the finals. And while she didn't walk away with the extra cash for college, she has some impressive hardware to show off nonetheless. In her bedroom are the plaque, two medals and the certificate she received in the Triple 'A' competition.

Brittany plans to study human nutrition at South Dakota State University in Brookings, S.D.

Brittany's older sister, Shannon, was selected as the New Ulm representative a few years ago, but she didn't make it to regionals. However, Shannon was also the captain of the tennis and softball teams, was in marching band and youth orchestra as well as STABLE. Shannon is a freshman psychology major at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa.

The eldest Gorres sister, Kelly, was also captain of the tennis team, in band and youth orchestra and was in SADD and STABLE. Kelly's now majoring in biochemistry at the University of Minnesota in Morris.

"There was always positive reinforcement," Kelly said from her dorm room in Morris. "There was always competition amongst the three of us, but it wasn't negative."

Kelly said she and her sisters always wanted to motivate each other and do new things. She said that, as the oldest, there wasn't as much pressure on her to succeed as there was on her two younger sisters.

"It was motivation," she said. "It was not stressful or anything."

Shannon adds, "It was less pressure and more a desire to succeed. I didn't feel like I had to -- I wanted to."

"It helped that we were all close in age," Shannon explained when asked about how her sister support network developed. "We spent a lot of time playing together. Instead to sibling rivalry, it was more like sibling support."

Like Brittany and Kelly, Shannon credits her parents with teaching her the importance of hard work and organization.

Their mother Debra, a keyboarding instructor at New Ulm's middle school, said competition was never an issue when her three daughters were still going to school together.

"The awards are nice, but the support is the best," she said,

Debra said her goal was simply for her daughters to be well-rounded, not aggressive and intimidating. As it happened, the three of them all played tennis, basketball and softball, excelled in school and liked it, Debra said. The only thing their mother said she promoted was limiting T.V. in favor of more reading; she didn't plan for what happened later.

"The things I'm proud of go beyond medals," Debra said.