Staples senior Matthew Mula was honored as Student of the Month by Westport Sunrise Rotary on Friday, then pole vaulted 14 feet, three inches to take the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference Western Division Indoor Championship on Saturday.
Mula took up pole vaulting as a freshman, excelled at it, and became a captain of “the reigning Connecticut State champion track and field team,” and one of its star performers.
More important to him is what he gives back. Mula is an active member of Staples’ Students Supporting Special Athletes. Every week he works with special needs students, teaching them to play soccer, basketball and compete in many track and field events.
He is a leader in his church’s youth group, “serving dinner for members of the Pivot House, travelling to New Orleans to help Hurricane Katrina victims rebuild their homes and working with Native American kids in South Dakota.” He told the group that the “problems and fears I face, though real, are nothing like those faced by many others.”
And just as he pushes himself training year round, he pushes himself in the classroom. Though he has accumulated more credits than he needs to graduate, he is enrolled in fourth year math, science and social studies classes.
Then in his spare time, Mula the entrepreneur runs a pet sitting business.
He closed his thank you, saying “community service will always be an important part of my life.”
From: http://www.minutemannewscenter.com/articles/2013/01/30/westport/news/doc5109378720076764881369.txt
