Editor’s note: The Auburn Reporter salutes some of the best graduating seniors from each of the school district’s four high schools. The top boy and girl graduates were selected by their respective schools.

Matt Sencenbaugh

If you want to know what makes Matt Sencenbaugh special, watch him after he bests an opponent on the wrestling mat. There’s no fist pump, no in-your-face bravado, no “I’m No. 1.” He just shakes his opponent’s hand and walks off the mat, usually with a smile.

Indeed, this young man has a lot to smile about.

Not only is Stanford-bound Sencenbaugh a brilliant student with 4.0 grade-point average, during each of four high school years, he placed at state in wrestling.

Sencenbaugh, who also plays on the varsity soccer team, will attend college this fall on a wrestling scholarship and major in computer science. After college, he hopes to launch his own Internet startup or work for a technology company.

Matt has gotten where he is by dint of a work ethic that demands his utmost in everything he does. His parents, Mark and Judy Sencenbaugh, instilled that value in him and in little sister Nicole early on.

“They taught me that if you are going to do something, do it right. Don’t do halfway, do it all the way,” Sencenbaugh said.

Sencenbaugh was a kindergartner when he began wrestling at Lea Hill Elementary. His dad wrestled in high school and college and coached the sport in middle school, so it was natural.

He placed second in the state in his weight class during his freshman year, fourth in his sophomore year and first his junior year. He finished second at state this year, despite breaking his right ring finger the day before his first meet of the season. He returned to competition only a week and half before the qualifying tournaments for state began.

“I planted it on the mat, and it just snapped,” Sencenbaugh recalled. “It wasn’t what I’d planned on, but I did my best.”

The sport has taught him a lot.

“You can really learn a lot about yourself when you reach the point where you are so tired, both of you are so tired as wrestlers, and whoever can just push a little farther than the other usually pulls out the win,” Sencenbaugh said.

Sencenbaugh said people sometimes wonder about an athlete who stands 5 feet 4 inches. It’s never been a problem.

“Well, maybe in soccer going to a header doesn’t work out so well, but I go with the flow,” Sencenbaugh said.

Elizabeth Wroe

Like Matt Sencenbaugh, Elizabeth Wroe is one those kids so easy to talk to, so humble about their accomplishments that it is easy to forget how smart they really are.

This bright young lady, a 2006-2007 Washington Aerospace Scholar, whose favorite class is calculus, is headed to Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., 150 miles north of New York City next year, as winner of a $60,000 scholarship.

“I am going to study engineering. I’m not sure yet what kind yet,” Wroe said.

In addition to her academic achievements – she has a 3.9 grade-point average – she is a member of the tennis team.

Politically, she’s a passionate, outspoken advocate for equal rights.

“I am really for equal rights, so I’m in the Gay-Straight Alliance,” Wroe said.

“I consider myself to be a feminist. I just think treating people nicely as equals is important. I just don’t like being mean to people. People should be allowed to get married, and women should be a treated as equals.”

She numbers among her heroes two strong women – Elizabeth I of England and Eleanor Roosevelt.

“But definitely my parents, John and Beth Ann, are my heroes. They encouraged me to get my homework done and follow the rules,” Wroe said.

Between the ages of 7 and 10, Wroe spent three years in England, and the experience left its mark on her.

“I think the major event when I was little was I moved to England. We traveled a lot. My dad worked at Boeing and he had a chance to go over there for a project. I saw a lot of museums and really appreciated the art and culture. A lot of my basic learning happened in England, and I learned about different ways to learn.”

She is definitely looking forward to the fall.

“I can’t wait to go to college. I’m ready for the atmosphere and people being really smart, I’m ready to go,” Wroe said.

“I’ll miss my boyfriend, Nick. He’s going to Western next year. We’re going to have to do this long distance relationship thing.

Her hope is that whatever I choose to do with my life, I’ll be good at it. If I choose to stay home and be with my kids, or if I am an engineer, I want to be competent,” Wroe said.

– Robert Whale

Editor’s note: The Auburn Reporter salutes some of the best graduating seniors from each of the school district’s four high schools. The top boy and girl graduates were selected by their respective schools.

Matt Sencenbaugh

If you want to know what makes Matt Sencenbaugh special, watch him after he bests an opponent on the wrestling mat. There’s no fist pump, no in-your-face bravado, no “I’m No. 1.” He just shakes his opponent’s hand and walks off the mat, usually with a smile.

Indeed, this young man has a lot to smile about.

Not only is Stanford-bound Sencenbaugh a brilliant student with 4.0 grade-point average, during each of four high school years, he placed at state in wrestling.

Sencenbaugh, who also plays on the varsity soccer team, will attend college this fall on a wrestling scholarship and major in computer science. After college, he hopes to launch his own Internet startup or work for a technology company.

Matt has gotten where he is by dint of a work ethic that demands his utmost in everything he does. His parents, Mark and Judy Sencenbaugh, instilled that value in him and in little sister Nicole early on.

“They taught me that if you are going to do something, do it right. Don’t do halfway, do it all the way,” Sencenbaugh said.

Sencenbaugh was a kindergartner when he began wrestling at Lea Hill Elementary. His dad wrestled in high school and college and coached the sport in middle school, so it was natural.

He placed second in the state in his weight class during his freshman year, fourth in his sophomore year and first his junior year. He finished second at state this year, despite breaking his right ring finger the day before his first meet of the season. He returned to competition only a week and half before the qualifying tournaments for state began.

“I planted it on the mat, and it just snapped,” Sencenbaugh recalled. “It wasn’t what I’d planned on, but I did my best.”

The sport has taught him a lot.

“You can really learn a lot about yourself when you reach the point where you are so tired, both of you are so tired as wrestlers, and whoever can just push a little farther than the other usually pulls out the win,” Sencenbaugh said.

Sencenbaugh said people sometimes wonder about an athlete who stands 5 feet 4 inches. It’s never been a problem.

“Well, maybe in soccer going to a header doesn’t work out so well, but I go with the flow,” Sencenbaugh said.

Elizabeth Wroe

Like Matt Sencenbaugh, Elizabeth Wroe is one those kids so easy to talk to, so humble about their accomplishments that it is easy to forget how smart they really are.

This bright young lady, a 2006-2007 Washington Aerospace Scholar, whose favorite class is calculus, is headed to Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., 150 miles north of New York City next year, as winner of a $60,000 scholarship.

“I am going to study engineering. I’m not sure yet what kind yet,” Wroe said.

In addition to her academic achievements – she has a 3.9 grade-point average – she is a member of the tennis team.

Politically, she’s a passionate, outspoken advocate for equal rights.

“I am really for equal rights, so I’m in the Gay-Straight Alliance,” Wroe said.

“I consider myself to be a feminist. I just think treating people nicely as equals is important. I just don’t like being mean to people. People should be allowed to get married, and women should be a treated as equals.”

She numbers among her heroes two strong women – Elizabeth I of England and Eleanor Roosevelt.

“But definitely my parents, John and Beth Ann, are my heroes. They encouraged me to get my homework done and follow the rules,” Wroe said.

Between the ages of 7 and 10, Wroe spent three years in England, and the experience left its mark on her.

“I think the major event when I was little was I moved to England. We traveled a lot. My dad worked at Boeing and he had a chance to go over there for a project. I saw a lot of museums and really appreciated the art and culture. A lot of my basic learning happened in England, and I learned about different ways to learn.”

She is definitely looking forward to the fall.

“I can’t wait to go to college. I’m ready for the atmosphere and people being really smart, I’m ready to go,” Wroe said.

“I’ll miss my boyfriend, Nick. He’s going to Western next year. We’re going to have to do this long distance relationship thing.

Her hope is that whatever I choose to do with my life, I’ll be good at it. If I choose to stay home and be with my kids, or if I am an engineer, I want to be competent,” Wroe said.

– Robert Whale