Illinois High School Senior, Natalie Koprowitz, Named Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow
4/4/2017ARLINGTON, Texas – Natalie Koprowitz of Girard, Illinois, has been selected as the 2017 Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow. Determined by the International Bowling Campus Youth Committee, the prestigious award recognizes star qualities in a female United States Bowling Congress Youth bowler, including accomplishments on the lanes, academic achievement and community service. The award winner receives a $6,000 scholarship. “I cannot begin to explain what it means to have been given this award,” Koprowitz said. “The first word that
comes to mind is ‘validation.’ The last several years, I have really committed myself to my schoolwork, my community and bowling. This award shows how much it has truly paid off. Also, to have my name on this award with some amazing young women is a huge honor.”
Koprowitz is the top-ranked student at North Mac High School with a 4.33 grade-point average (4.0 scale). She has taken college prep classes is algebra, biology, physics, trigonometry, calculus and genetics, is an Illinois State Scholar and president of the National Honor Society.
She is a Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering and Gifted Olympiad member, is president of the Science Club and Student Council vice president. As secretary of the Key Club, she helped organize quarterly blood drives through the Central Illinois Community Blood Center. She also volunteers at the Girard Food Pantry.
Koprowitz was introduced to the sport of bowling when she was 3.
“My father bowled growing up, and he started my three older brothers and me in league at young ages,” Koprowitz said. “Having my older brothers to compete against on the lanes really pushed me. It wasn’t until my early teenage years that I really began to bowl competitively. Both of my parents have been a huge support for me, and I can’t thank them enough.”
On the lanes, she won high school regional and sectional individual titles in 2017 and finished eighth in the Illinois High School Association state tournament. She had top-four individual finishes in the IHSA regionals and sectionals both her sophomore and junior seasons and was named to the 2015-2016 Dexter/USBC All-America Team.
She finished 87th in the U20 division at the 2016 Junior Gold Championships and was 32nd in U20 in 2015. As a U15 participant in 2015, she qualified for match play but lost in her third match in the bracket.
Koprowitz will continue her bowling career at St. Ambrose University in the fall. She plans to major in nursing and currently is enrolled in a Certified Nursing Assistant course, so she can get an early start in the field.
The Alberta E. Crowe Star of Tomorrow Award is named in honor of the USBC Hall of Fame member who was a seven-term president of the Women’s International Bowling Congress. It first was awarded in 1961.
Koprowitz will receive her award at the 2017 USBC Convention, which will take place April 24-27 at The Orleans in Las Vegas.
Article was posted with permission from Stars & Strikes, America's Bowling Newsmagazine. www.starsandstrikesbowling.com
