SFP students earn scholarships

One is a blue chipper. The other is a late bloomer. The third is a lifelong student of the game.
All three, each standout student athletes at St. Francis Prep, realized a dream recently when they signed National Letters of Intent to attend and play the sport of their choice at a noteworthy Division I college.
Paul Karmas and Dan Forman will play baseball while Ariel Pierre, who is perhaps the borough's top talent in her sport, will try her hand on the next level in volleyball.
&#8220I thought that was pretty sweet,” Karmas said when told of the accomplishment. &#8220It's pretty rare. It's pretty awesome.”
Karmas, the slugging first baseman and jewel of the trio, accepted a scholarship from St. John's University to stay local, shunning offers from such powerhouses as LSU, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame.
&#8220I had to go with my gut feeling,” the 6-foot-3, 210-pound Douglaston resident said. &#8220I always wanted to go to St. John's.” The presence of a former teammate at St. John's, Richard Armento, factored in, too, he said.
Karmas, 17, wasn't always as highly regarded, especially by himself. &#8220I just wanted to make a high school team,” he said upon entering the Fresh Meadows Catholic School as a freshman. Karmas did make the cut and made the starting lineup for the Terriers as a sophomore as their cleanup hitter, playing an integral role in the team's miraculous run to the city finals. &#8220That's when it clicked that I could play in college.”
It wasn't so simple for Forman, a 6-foot, 165-pound southpaw. He was not recruited much until the summer before his junior year when he began pitching in showcase tournaments and his radar gun readings started to increase.
He shined this summer in the Empire State Games and with the Bayside All-Stars. Suddenly, many schools were after the Jamaica resident. Forman picked Manhattan, where he recently visited, over Hofstra, Stony Brook, Marist, Albany and Temple. &#8220I was looking for this,” he said, his smile telling the story.
&#8220They love the game and they work at it - those are two key ingredients,” said Brother Robert Kent, the baseball coach, of his two players.
Then there is Pierre, perhaps the best athlete of all three. One of the best setters in the city (although she's a hybrid outside hitter/setter for the Terriers), Pierre led St. Francis Prep to an undefeated regular season, although they fell in the city championship to Archbishop Molloy. An honor roll student, Pierre chose Temple over Rutgers and Georgetown.
&#8220I've always had that dream to play in college,” she said.
The 5-foot-5 Pierre, who has a background in dance (jazz and tap) and plays the viola, a lower octave from the violin, gives much of the credit to her parents for her development. Pierre got an early jump on the competition. She grew up watching her parents, Karl Pierre and Aline P. Lubin, play club ball with Creole Big Apple.
&#8220They've been playing all my life, so I always had something to look up to,” she recalled. &#8220I was always curious. They were always playing, so there must be something about it, I thought.”
She joined the youngest team with Creole Big Apple at the age of 10, quickly catching the fever. &#8220I love the competitiveness, I love the focus it takes to play the game, I like that's it's a team sport,” Pierre said.
Like her classmates, Pierre will get a chance to continue playing the sport she loves in college - free of charge, of course.