Shian Earlington, a 16-year-old student from Hartford, made the Junior Varsity Lacrosse Team after never having played the sport.
Karlee Chapman
Earlington, who attends Canton High School, said she’s always been interested in lacrosse and became more intrigued after seeing members of the lacrosse team wearing their gear. In March, she joined the JV team. A month later, she was hit in the face by a lacrosse ball and could not play for the rest of the season.
“In lacrosse, concussions and bruises are a rite of passage,” she said.
Despite this setback, she plans on continuing lacrosse next year and wants to be a member of the varsity team.
Outside of lacrosse, Earlington has received many awards at her school. She made the Honor Roll and was given a Character Recognition Award and an Innovation Award for Canton High’s Model UN Club at the University of Hartford.
She also belongs to many clubs. She’s a member of the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Club and Search, which is a scientific club. She is also a reporter for Canton High’s newspaper, The Arrow. Earlington is a peer counselor.
She is part of a large extended family. Her mother, Sonia, works for a senior care company called Companions and Homemakers. Her father, Walton, recently retired from the maintenance department at Cigna. Her siblings are sisters Renae, 35, Marsharee, 33, Judy, 25, and a brother, Omari, 13.
In the future, Earlington hopes to attend an Ivy League college or a historically Black university, with a major in a science field, such as medicine or pathobiology.
“Science is complex,” she said. “Science doesn’t come to me easily, like English or social studies, so I push myself.”
Karlee Chapman is a student at Sacred Heart Academy, Hamden.