Marco Seniors Receive Prestigious Winged Foot Scholar-Athlete Awards

The Winged Foot Scholar-Athlete Award recognizes the best scholar-athlete from each Collier County high school. Lely High School will be represented by a Marco Island scholar-athlete. 

The Winged Foot Award banquet has featured an impressive list of keynote speakers over the years, including Cal Ripken, Jr., Tim Tebow, Dick Vitale, Urban Meyer, Lou Holtz, Bill Walton, Steve Spurrier, Bobby Bowden, and Jack Kemp. This year’s speaker is Gary Danielson, a former NFL quarterback and college football analyst. The May 26 banquet, at Naples Grande Resort, will be the first banquet since 2019, due to the COVID pandemic. All finalists receive a $5,000 scholarship. The winner is awarded a $10,000 scholarship.

Last week we featured MIA’s Nick Vergo. Now let’s meet Mia Witthoff!

Mia Witthoff, a star swimmer at Lely High School and who is second in her class academically, attended middle school at Marco Island Charter Middle School.

Witthoff also played tennis at Lely, but swimming was her passion, advancing to the state meeting as a member of the school’s 200-freestyle and 400-freestyle relay teams. Witthoff and her teammates set a school record in the 200-freestyle. 

Witthoff appreciates her coach, Adam Peterson. He helped keep her from burning out on swimming when she joined the LHS swim team as a freshman.

“Coach Peterson has been there all four years for me,” Witthoff said. "He kept swimming really fun for me. He kept me motivated and wanting to do it all four years. Really pushed me. I did start to get burned out right at the beginning of high school. Joining the high school team really brought the sport back for me and it became a lot of fun again.”

Peterson has enjoyed coaching Witthoff and appreciates what the senior did for his daughter, a freshman on the team. Two of Witthoff’s relay teams competed in the state tournament.

"I’ve known Mia since she was in middle school,” said Lely Head Coach, Adam Peterson. "It’s been an honor to coach such a motivated, academic, and talented young lady. Not only is she a wonderful athlete, but a true leader around the pool. She takes the time to make everyone feel welcome and included on the team. Mia has worked extremely hard to break records at Lely and make states in swimming. Mia also put just as much time, if not more time, into her academics. On a personal note, Mia’s kindness made such a difference in my freshman daughter's first year at Lely. Without me asking, Mia took her under her wing and showed her the beauty of being part of a team and the pride of being a Lely Trojan."

As hard as she worked in the pool, Witthoff probably worked even harder academically.

“I’m president of our school’s student government and national honor society,” she said when asked to list her accomplishments. "I’m currently second in the class for class ranking. I’m really involved in the engineering program at school. I developed an app for Lely High School through that program.”

The motivated Witthoff applied to a number of colleges, and was accepted by most of them, including in-state schools University of Florida, Florida State and Central Florida. She was also accepted to Purdue. But one school stood out.

"I’m going to Georgia Tech to study civil engineering,” Witthoff said. "I was really happy to be accepted there. I visited Georgia Tech as a sophomore and I’ve loved it ever since. It’s just a great school for engineering and what I want to do. I’m going to be studying civil engineering. And they have a minor called sustainable cities. I hope to get that so I can get into the sustainability and environmental side.”

“Mia has the whole package,” said Meredith Burt, who has raised a couple of swimmers herself. “She is truly a scholar and an athlete. She is a selfless, kind and dedicated young lady. She has positive energy, a good attitude, and motivates her teammates in and out of the water. I have had the privilege to see Mia grow up on the pool deck as she swam with both my daughters. I am confident she will make a positive difference in our world. Our family wishes her luck in her future at Georgia Tech.”

Burt’s daughter Maddy is swimming at Arizona State University. Her younger daughter, Caelan, is a sophomore at Lely.

Tina Nash is another swim mom who appreciates Mia’s character. She was a role model for her daughter.

"My daughter Emma has swum with Mia for over 10 years,” Tina Nash said. "Started at the Y and then they swam on Lely’s high school's team this year. Mia took Emma under her wing from the beginning. She helped her and encouraged her at practice and meets. She is a great role model who I’m so happy that Emma has to look up to. She works hard both at swim and in school.”

Angela Prodanov sees Mia Witthoff making a change in the world.

“What a great honor for her,” Prodanov said. "She is a great candidate for that award. Mia just exudes somebody who has had such focus in what she’s been doing academically and in sports - swimming especially. She’s done it in a way that she would never boast. She is so humble about all these accolades. Her grade point average, getting into Georgia Tech. She just goes about her business in a way that is really admirable. I just really admire her and respect her so much, and I’m an adult. I am inspired by Mia. She is really a unique kid. I’m just happy to have watched her grow up. And watched her blossom. When she was younger, she was more shy. As she has matured and become more active in the school and in leadership positions, it has really been a thrill for our family to have a front row seat for that. We moved to Florida twelve years ago. The Witthoffs were one of the very first families we met. I really admire their entire family. Mia really holds a special place in my heart. I’m just excited to see how she grows and matures - and how she impacts the world. I know she will in a very positive, tangible way. I just know that she will.”

"She is not just your typical high achieving high school student,” Prodanov continues, “her love, her inquisitiveness and desire in the science field, her desire to really make a difference in the world has driven her into special projects outside of the Lely experience. I really think she has a great chance of winning the Winged Foot Award."