Senior wins runner-up for L.A. Scholar Athlete

By Emily Petillon
Managing Editor

Senior Brandon Mills was named runner-up in the Los Angeles Scholar Athlete of the Year Award on Feb. 14 at the Culver City Doubletree Hotel.

At the ceremony, 52 scholar athletes attended, and four of them, including Mills, were nominated for the award. El Segundo athlete Jamie Stewart won the award. Mills received $750 in scholarship money and a commemorative plaque for his second- place finish.

“In order to win such an award, I had to accel both in school and athletics,” Mills said. “The National Football Foundation inducts around 60 students just from the schools in the L.A. area, so just being inducted was an honor. All 60 students are athletic and smart, so the association distinguishes them through character, personality and future dreams and goals.”

Nominees are chosen by their schools and, subjectively, picked by the National Football Foundation of the Los Angeles chapter. Candidates must be a senior and have a grade point average of at least 3.2 on a 4.0 scale, have football honors and have demonstrated strong leadership and citizenship in the community.

“I think all of his classmates would agree that it’s amazing to go through the rigors of a football season and exceed in class the way that he does,” senior PJ Onschconich said of Mills.