Shine Earns Award, Special Tour

Pearl River High School Senior Molly Shine grew up a New York Giants fan.

Her father had season tickets for many years until giving them up when the team started selling seat licenses.

Imagine what getting to go onto the field during pre-game warm-ups before the Giants' Monday Night Football game against the St. Louis Rams this past Monday meant to her.

"It was so overwhelming," Shine said. "You were thrown right into the ation. It was great. We were getting yelled at for crossing a yellow line you're not supposed to cross."

That was among the highlights Shine earned along with an ESPNHS Monday Night Football Chalk Talk RISE Above award that brought her to the Timex Performance Center at MetLife Stadium along with friends, family and Pearl River Director of Athletics Todd Santabarbara Monday.

The awards are given to two local high school athletes, one boy and one girl, as part of each stop in the NFL's Chalk Talk series of pre-game luncheons.

"We got a tour around, behind the scenes of this thing called Chalk Talk," Shine said. "It was cool. It seems like it should be on TV because of all the people there; (former Giants) Antonio Pierce, Amani Toomer. Some other guys whose names I don't remember, but they were really cool. It was so overwhelming. I was starstruck.

"After the tour, we went to the awards ceremony, me and this kid Jerson (Calderon) from Pascack Valley. I got to shake Antonio Pierce's hand. Oh my god, it was awesome."

Monday Night Football host teams select candidates for the awards and winners are chosen by Community Affairs, Team ESPN and ESPN High School. The awards go to student-athletes who "overcome obstacles to succeed in sports and off the field."

For Shine, that means becoming a standout in cross country and in the distance events in track and field despite being diagnosed with exercise-induced asthma in 2009. She is also a strong student, a member of the National Honor Society for science, math, English, social studies and Spanish. 

"I found out (about the asthma) my second year running cross country," Shine said. "It was a downer at first, but I love the sport. You have to figure out how to work through it. I can manage it if I do everything I'm supposed to and take everything I'm supposed to.

"One time it got really bad."

That was the 2010 New York State Cross Country Championships. Shine had an asthma attack during the race. A competing runner stopped to help her up, but Shine ended up crawling across the finish line before being hospitalized.

Pearl River track and cross country coach Dan Doherty submitted Shine's name for consideration, also writing about her work with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. She recently collected over 1,000 various school supply items to donate to students who can't afford them.

In addition to the award and the tour, Shine was able to sit in on a discussion panel and learn about possible options for working in sports.

"I'm unsure of what I want to do," Shine said. "I'm not sure what I want to major in, but seeing what some of those people do and what their every day was like, it really appealed to me. I could see myself doing that."

Then there was the surprise that made her night.

"They surprised us, telling us we would be able to go onto the field for pregame warmups," Shine said. "That was so exciting. My friend started crying. I got to bring four friends. They were so happy. After that, the game started and we had good seats. We could only stay until halftime because we had school in the morning.

"It was just an awesome day."