This Week's Student Spotlight: Casey Silvestri

Age: 17
School: Senior at Albertus Magnus High School

Casey Silvestri is not just good in school and in sports, she excels in both.

Casey recently signed a letter of intent to play lacrosse at Manhattan College, a Division 1 school, next year. Ensuring her a spot on the college team and promising the college that she's on board.

It's not hard to understand why colleges came knocking on her door in the pre-season this year. She currently holds the record for most goals in a game and most points during a season. And is very close to setting the record for most goals in a career. Right now she has 176 goals and still has her final season to complete.

As captain of the lacrosse team she has also been named All League, All Elite, All Section - honorable mention and an Academic All-American.

"I have known since I was in ninth grade that I wanted to play lacrosse in college. It was a sport that I picked up in seventh grade and I quickly fell in love. I started playing on travel teams all summer long. I gave up many weekends and vacations to travel up and down the easy coast playing lacrosse," said Casey Silvestri.

One of the more exemplary awards is the Academic All-American. This is awarded to students who maintain a high GPA, contributes and is active in the community, has good sportsmanship and shows extraordinary lacrosse skills.  She was one of seven girls chosen in the county.

"It was very exciting to have learned that I won this award."

Her academic performance alone is quite impressive.

Casey is an honor student who has recently been inducted into the National Honor Society, English Honor Society, History Honor Society and Foreign Language Honor Society. She took AP American History and AP Language and Composition last year. This year she is taking AP Literature and AP European History.

At school she was a co-captain of the soccer team this year and played basketball her freshman and sophomore years, making the varsity team her second year.  She is also active in school clubs such as Youth Against Cancer, The Red Cross Club and The Future Healthcare Professionals Club.

"For Youth against cancer we held raffle auctions at Albertus to raise money for cancer. For the Red Cross Club and Future Healthcare Professionals Club we held blood drives at the school. But probably the best assignment that I worked on for the community was with my soccer team. My co-captain and I organized a to donate money to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. So many of the girls on my team, including myself, were touched by this disease and we felt it would be a great way to give up our excess to women in need. We ended up raising $1,200 and hopefully this fundraiser will continue at Albertus."

Casey is looking forward to the lacrosse season but at the same time she doesn't want her senior year to go to fast. There are some rivalries that she is looking forward to meeting on the field.

"I am most excited to play North Rockland and Pearl River. I am from North Rockland and every year in every sport I grew up playing various sports with those girls and it becomes a personal rivalry for me. When it come to Pearl River I think we have come so close to them over the last few years. I personally come out strong against them and I think there is a rivalry between Albertus and Pearl River in most sports.  Hopefully we can really pull together this year to overcome both of these teams. They have solid teams every year and I think beating them will prove we are contenders. Albertus Magnus Girls lacrosse has come so far over the last four years that I have played. It's about time we started making a name for ourselves and it starts with solid teams like North Rockland and Pearl River."

Fortunately for Casey her lacrosse career will not end at the end of this year but continue for another four years at Manhattan College. In addition to knowing that she always wanted to play lacrosse in college, Casey also has a plan for her future.

"I personally chose Manhattan over my other offers because I loved the school. From the moment I walked on campus I realized that it was the school for me. I also thought that Manhattan was trying to build a strong lacrosse program that I could be apart of. I wish to enter into the business program there. I want to get myself on track for the five year accounting program to set me up to become a CPA.  Overall, I feel very relieved to know where I am going next year and I am very happy with my choice. But this year I cannot wait to start my senior lacrosse season with my team. Hopefully it doesn't all go by too fast."

Congratulations to a gifted student and a very talented athlete. Best of luck with the rest of your senior year and all the best breaking the record for goals in a career.

Check back with Patch in the spring to see when Casey breaks the record.