JOHN “JOHNNY” HOLGUIN III
Male Scholastic Award Winner
Choctawhatchee High School football captain Johnny Holguin is the All-Sports Association Male Scholastic Award winner. Holguin’s resume is astonishing. He is a Wendy’s Heisman winner and a recipient of the Clint Alligood Over-Achiever Scholarship Award. He ranks in the top 2% of his class with a 4.66 weighted GPA. He’s a member of the National Honor Society, Key Club International, and National Society of High School Scholars.
He is a National Merit Scholar Commended Student and in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. Holguin was class president as a freshman, sophomore, and junior.
He volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and First Baptist Church, all while working for NBI Properties providing commercial sign installation from Panama City to Pensacola. He is a Fellowship of Christian Athletes Challenger Award recipient. Holguin, who played football since age five, is a four-year member of the Choctaw football team, playing offense, defense, and special teams. He played on the Regional All Star football team and was a Regional qualifier in weightlifting, placing 6th in districts. Holguin’s college goals are lofty — he’s waiting to hear from University of Florida and Harvard College.
ohnny joins an exceptional list of past winners, including Fort Walton Beach’s Danny Wuerffel, Niceville’s Roy Finch, and Pensacola’s Emmitt Smith. Johnny will share the Banquet spotlight with keynote speaker and longtime hero Tim Tebow. But this won’t be the first time he’s met Tebow, who came to the Emerald Coast in 2009 to accept the Wuerffel Trophy. Johnny was at that Banquet — he has a picture of himself as an 8-year-old, sitting on Tebow’s lap. “That picture hangs in his room to this day,” his father said. “When I was little I never expected anything like this,” Johnny said. “It’s an honor. To celebrate this with the people who have helped me grow, who have helped me through everything, it means the world. I just expected this to be a normal year. It’s been so much more.”
KATHERINE “KATIE” LIGHTFOOT
Female Scholastic Award Winner
Niceville High School senior Katie Lightfoot is a multi-sport athlete, a star in the classroom, and a leader in her community. In athletics, she’s an All-Area softball player — the starting outfielder for Niceville’s two-time state runner-up softball team. In track, she is a two time regional qualifier in hurdles and a state qualifier in the pole vault, with a 12th place finish in the state meet. She’s also a Wendy’s High School Heisman 2018 school winner and an All-American cheerleader.
Academically, Katie ranks in the top 3% of her class with a 4.65 weighted GPA. She has scholarship offers from Alabama and Auburn. She’s a member of the National Honor Society and the Niceville High School Hall of Fame.
Her community service is exemplary. She’s the president of the Key Club and she chairs the City of Niceville Youth Advisory Council. She volunteered over 400 hours for Sharing and Caring, the PAL Soccer VIP Special Needs Program, and more. Niceville mayor Randall Wise and the Niceville City Council declared November 14th, 2018 “Katie Lightfoot Day” after she was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Okaloosa County for 2019. Katie credits her “amazing parents, classmates, teachers and coaches” for her success. “If it wasn’t for them, I couldn’t have done it all,” Lightfoot said. Katie has even more she hopes to accomplish before graduation: winning a state title in softball and making a good showing at state in hurdles and pole vault. And, of course, receiving the All Sports Association Scholastic Award. “I’m so excited,” she said. “It’s really surreal. I’m honored.”