USA Fencing

(San Jose, Calif.) – USA Fencing is pleased to announce that six fencers were honored as the recipients of scholarships during the Absolute Fencing Gear® All-Academic Team and Connor Porter Memorial Scholarships during a ceremony in San Jose, Calif. on June 28.

Dylan Kim (Marietta, Ga.) and Julia Horan (Clinton, Conn.) each received $4,000 scholarships provided by Absolute Fencing Gear® and presented by Absolute’s owner, Gary Lu (Bridgewater, N.J.), in recognition of their outstanding GPAs as well as well-written essays. Both Kim and Horan also were honored as First-Team All-Academic Team members.  

A sophomore at George Walton Comprehensive High School, Kim is an A-rated epee fencer who trains at the Atlanta Fencers’ Club and competed on the Cadet European Cup circuit this season.

Horan is also a sophomore who fences foil for her club at The Morgan School as well as with ICONN Fencing Club.

A pair of seniors won scholarships based solely on their outstanding essays. First-Team members Arjuna Subramania (Silver Spring, Md.) and Zoee D’Costa (Skillman, N.J.) received the $1,000 awards.

Subramania is an epee fencer who graduated from Montgomery Blair High School and earned his first top-16 junior epee result at the July Challenge. D’Costa, who graduated from Montgomery High School, earned her B in saber after winning bronze in the Division II event at the April North American Cup.

In all, 353 fencers from 41 states were named to the All-Academic Team.

Twelve athletes with GPAs from 3.5 – 3.69 were named to the Honorable Mention Team. Thirty-four athletes with GPAs between 3.7 and 3.84 received Second Team honors. A record 307 athletes with GPAs of at least 3.85 were named to the First Team.

California had the most members of the All-Academic Team with 69 and the Los Angeles International Fencing Center produced the most team members of any club with 13, including 2014 Cadet World medalist Kasia Nixon (Los Angeles, Calif. / Notre Dame Academy) and two-time Cadet World Team member Charlie Horowitz (Los Angeles, Calif. / Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences). 

Columbia High School, a perennial powerhouse in New Jersey, also was recognized for having the most students named to the All-Academic Team with four Maplewood natives Brigid Lynch (Durkan Fencing Academy), Camille Pham (Empire United Fencing), Harrison Woods (Lilov Fencing Academy) and Natalie Martinez (Peter Westbrook Foundation) each being named to the First Team.

Trish Porter (Albuquerque, N.M.) was on hand to present the Connor Porter Memorial Scholarships – a pair of $2,000 awards given by the Porter family to one male and one female high school student in memory of Trish’s son, Connor Porter (Albuquerque, N.M.) who passed away in a plane crash shortly after he returned home from winning bronze in men’s foil at the Division III National Championships in 2012.

George Haglund (Califon, N.J. / Newark Academy / NYAC), a 2014 Cadet World silver medalist in foil, and Stefania Tomich (South Bend, Ind. / Marian High School / Escrime Du Lac), who competed in the Division II and III foil events at Summer Nationals, received the scholarships based on their extraordinary essays.