Written by Yezielle Orengo – Journalism Staff Reporter

Congratulations to Stella Newton on being nominated as the Athlete of the week! She is a senior at Allatoona and is on the swim team. Stella has been swimming since she was seven years old, and she believes she has been nominated because she continues to work hard and believes that discipline is what allows her to get up and work hard even when life gets complicated. Coach Hicks says, “Stella manages all of our social media and has been a captain on our team for the last three years; she is really good at helping communicate information to all of the other seniors, and we would not be as successful as we are without Stella.” Stella’s favorite memory in swim was in her sophomore year competing in state at Georgia Tech when everyone had to leave because of a false fire alarm. She loves going to state each year and adores everyone on her team. Stella plans to go to college but is not sure if she wants to continue swimming; she wants to continue working hard in and out of the pool and see where that takes her. Stella’s advice to younger athletes is, “Block out all the distractions and continue to work hard. Something I heard one time is that everything good is on the other side of something hard, and I just live by that.” Congratulations again to Stella Newton on being nominated as Athlete of the Week!