Simply put, Portage High School senior Eric Mesarch has rocked all aspects of high school. Mesarch, recently named the 2013 PHS Outstanding Young Man, has stood out in the classroom, on the baseball field, as a leader and as a person.
Mesarch thoroughly enjoyed competing in the OYM scholarship competition, which took place on Feb. 2. He said he was nervous at the beginning of the program, but quickly settled into a groove. Some of that nervousness resurfaced moments before the winner was announced.
“It was an amazing feeling,” he said. “My knees were locked up the entire time, waiting for all of the awards to be announced. My heart was beating very fast because I knew I had a shot at being OYM. I had butterflies in my stomach.”
After the winner was announced, Mesarch enjoyed one final stroll down the catwalk. The crowd showed its support for the judges’ decision by erupting into a standing ovation.
One glance at Mesarch’s involvements and accomplishments over the last four years is all it takes for someone to understand why he was named OYM. He has participated in baseball, Natural Helpers, Pow Wow student newspaper, Indians News Network, Pow Wow Radio, concert band, academic team, church youth group and National Honor Society.
“Natural Helpers was another one of the big things that I did during high school,” he said. “It was a life changing experience learning about these factors of life that we don’t really look at in a deeper perspective. I got to meet a lot of new people on that trip and got to learn a lot of new lessons about life.”
On the baseball field, Mesarch has worked his way up from his Little League debut at age seven, to travel ball, to the high school ranks (freshmen, junior varsity and varsity).
Mesarch began last season as a reserve on the varsity team. However, he took advantage of every at-bat he was given and eventually won a job in the starting lineup.
“I think that’s one of my good traits, that if I’m given the chance, I’m able to show what I can do,” he said. “I was able to start the rest of the season and it was just an awesome feeling inside.”
Mesarch’s work ethic is also evident in the classroom, where he has strung together straight A’s throughout all four years of high school despite taking a challenging course load. He is ranked fourth academically in the graduating class.
“I always love a challenge and that’s why I’m in the A.P. classes, so that I’m challenged every day,” Mesarch said. “I love coming to school every day. A lot of kids might not say that, but I really like coming to school every day.”
When he secured his spot in the ACES Banquet, which will take place in April, by finishing in the top 30 in the class, Mesarch was presented with a very difficult decision. Each ACES student is asked to select one staff member that has made an impact on his or her high school career. The challenge of whittling his list down to just one was solved when he chose physics teacher Brenda Nowosad.
“That has been one of the hardest decisions I had to make in high school,” he said. “Brenda Nowosad has done a lot for me in physics and she taught me a lot about how everything works in the world.”
Mesarch was also influenced and inspired by many Fegely Middle School teachers, including seventh grade math teacher Jeff Smenyak and eight grade social studies teacher and student council adviser Jim Martz.
Smenyak, Marcia Guth (social studies), Lenora Ramian (science) and Derek Hart (English) helped make Mesarch’s seventh grade year one that he will never forget.
“My seventh grade team was the Dino Team and I became really close with all four of my core teachers," he said. "What really stands out about them is that they still talk about me and my accomplishments even though I’ve moved on since Fegely.”
Mesarch credits his family and friends for helping him along the way.
“My parents have done an awesome job raising me to be the respectful young man that I am and I don’t know what I would do without them,” he said.
Next year, Mesarch will be attending either Purdue University West Lafayette or Valparaiso University to study electrical engineering. The fact that his final departure from high school is just a few short months away is still sinking in.
“I’ve come to make so many new friends, so many new acquaintances throughout my high school career, and I’ll miss them the most,” Mesarch said. “I might not see these people ever again after I graduate high school. We’ve had a lot of fun.”
Photos by Haley Crnarich, Melissa Deavers-Lowie, Cindy Hughes and Brandon Vickrey