DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710080137

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 03   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: THUMBS UP 

SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SMITHFIELD                        LENGTH:   68 lines

KATIE PACK ATHLETE, HONORS STUDENT

Katie Pack is a multi-talented 17-year-old.

She can kick a soccer ball with precision and was voted ``Most Dedicated'' player during her sophomore year at Nansemond-Suffolk Academy.

During her senior year, she is playing as a forward on the varsity team.

An experienced boater, Katie helps dock the boats that pull into Smithfield Station in Smithfield. She often pitches in on the weekends or during the week, if needed, at the front desk or on the docks at her parents' restaurant and inn on the Pagan River.

However, Katie's most recent accomplishment was to win national recognition for outstanding leadership in academics and character.

Although she has been the recipient of several academic awards in the past, Katie is now one of approximately 35,000 students in the nation to receive Commended Student status for the 1998 National Merit Scholarship Award.

``More than one million students took the test,'' said Ann Powell, director of college counseling at N-SA. ``Katie will not compete for scholarships as the semi-finalists will do, but she still scored very high on the 1996 PSAT National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test taken in October 1996.''

Named a Commended Student will be an additional positive factor for Katie when she applies to the college of her choice this year.

Although she has not yet selected a college, Katie recently visited Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and was impressed with the school and campus.

``My favorite subject is AP(advanced placement) physics,'' she said, ``but I also like the humanities and enjoy history and writing.''

Katie attended the Governor's School for the Humanities at the University of Richmond this past summer, where she studied different cultures, and ``Vox Humana: The Power of Word.''

``Vox Humana is Latin for the study of the human voice and the connotations of various words in the English language,'' Katie said.

In the past four years, Katie has won numerous awards, including the Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society Award for outstanding proficiency in American history.

A member of the National Honor Society, Katie was the high scorer for N-SA in the National High School Math Exam in the 11th grade and placed second in Spanish I in the National Spanish Exam. She also has served as both a delegate and senator at the Model General Assembly.

Katie is active in the Cultural Exchange Club and the Co-ed Hi-Y, and, this year, will work with Habitat for Humanity and the school magazine, ``Spectrum.''

A lifetime resident of Smithfield, Katie is the daughter of Ronald and Tina Pack. She has two brothers, Randy, 21, a senior at Virginia Tech, and 19-year-old Brian, a freshman at Radford College.

Introduced to sports by her brothers, Katie plays basketball, volleyball and softball. For the past two years, she has been a member of the Elizabeth River Soccer Club indoor team, and is also, the statistician for the boys' soccer team at N-SA.

Living near the river, Katie and her brothers learned to sail and water-ski at an early age.

``Although we have smaller boats now, we used to have a 52-foot boat,'' she said. ``I attended sailing camp every summer when I was little.''

Recently, Katie and her family took a sailing vacation through the British and U.S. Virgin Islands.

For the past two years, Katie has volunteered with the Smithfield Kiwanis Club Toy Drive and is now serving as president of the Episcopal Youth Community < ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER

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