Great Neck North offers many sports, allowing for skilled students to dedicate tremendous time to retain more skills for college scholarships, fame amongst peers, and news coverage both in-school and nationally. But, how do Great Neck ice skaters achieve recognition?

Senior Kimberly Ebrani has participated as an ice skater since age five. Initially convinced by her cousins to pick up the sport, Ebrani began lessons. For a short time she took a break, but returned back to this sport as a middle schooler. Although her skills fell shortly behind her peers, she found success after her team won a production competition. She works as a junior coach at the Andrew Stergiopoulos Ice Skating Rink. While she admits the difficulty of continuing to be a professional skater, she expresses her content as a coach.

Senior Shirin Soleimany has participated as an ice skater since age eight. Her inspiration routes from the “…professional figure skaters doing incredible jumps and spins.” Soleimany competes in numerous competitions, frequently receiving a trophy or medal as recognition of her achievement. She indicates that she will pursue figure-skating for as long as she can and “can’t even imagine life without it.”

Sophomore Arielle Mueller’s love for ice skating began at the age of three. Her mother signed her up for lessons, only to pull Mueller out when she did not show interest. At age eight, Mueller decided to pursue ice skating to demonstrate that she “…doesn’t quit everything.” At her last competition, Mueller received a bronze medal as recognition for her skills and hard work on the ice. Mueller hopes to master her jump-combinations, and “… land a double axel,” at her next competition. 

Although these girls are not GNN-affiliated athletes, they continue to exhibit tremendous effort as they are recognized for hard work and skills.