Geographically there were only a few miles between where Winston Smith and Christina Nelson received their high school educations.

Smith attended Hope High School in Providence. Nelson spent her high school days just “across the bridge” at St. Mary’s Academy-Bay View in East Providence.

Their backgrounds, however, were worlds apart.

Nelson is a Rhode Island suburban kid. She lives in Western Cranston and attended a parochial high school.

Smith grew up in an African refugee camp.

Yet despite their contrasting backgrounds, they are two amazingly similar teenagers.

They both love sports and understand the value of education. They are gifted individuals who understand it’s important that people with talent make an effort to help others.

That’s why in addition to being a standout track performer and National Honor Society member, Nelson spent 3-4 hours every week during her high school career tutoring other students and also spent part of one of her summer vacations in Reading, Pa., helping renovate homes for the less fortunate.

Smith went from being a refugee of a civil war in Liberia to the valedictorian of this year’s graduation class at the Hope High Leadership Academy. He also became an All-State soccer player and runner. It would be easy for him to forget where he had come from and simply plan his future around the opportunities his American education has created for him. But he firmly believes those opportunities come with an unwritten obligation.

“I want to become somebody, not just for me but for my country, my family, my friends back in Liberia and Ghana and all those who died during the war. I want to be part of the changes that are occurring in my country and help the next generation by becoming a positive role model,” Smith wrote in a college-admission essay.

Nelson and Smith were two of the 112 Rhode Island high school seniors who were nominated for this year’s Providence Journal Honor Roll Boy and Girls awards. The Honor Roll Girl and Boy are the top female and male student/athletes among this year’s Rhode Island high school graduates.

And while the other nominees may not have had firsthand knowledge of living in a civil war refugee camp or spent a week repairing homes in a Pennsylvania city where 26 percent of the population lives below the poverty level, their nomination forms are testament that many of today’s talented young people understand the importance of helping others.

The Journal Honor Roll Boy and Girl are 50/50, academic/athletic awards. That’s the way high school principals are asked to evaluate their school’s nominees for the award, 50 percent academic, 50 percent athletic.

Barrington High’s Julie Ruggieri and Burrillville’s Ryan Coffey were named the 2007 Honor Roll Girl and Boy, respectively, because of their extraordinary academic and athletic accomplishments.

But in addition to her high school All-American selections in two sports and a 3.70 GPA, this year Ruggieri took time out from her lacrosse season to spend her spring vacation on a church mission in Jamaica working with poverty-stricken and physically disadvantaged children.

“It was a life-changing experience,” Ruggieri said of the trip. “They [the children] were handicapped and they were abandoned. It opens your eyes to the fact that the biggest gift you can give a child is love. If you have talent, you should share it. You should give back and help others so one day they can have a different life.”

Coffey was one of the top two students academically in this year’s Burrillville High graduating class and a three-sport star, but somehow throughout his high school career he found time to be involved in a myriad of community services in the Burrillville area.

“A lot of people helped me, so for me it was important to give part to the whole community,” said Coffey, who plans to major in biology at Wesleyan University as a precursor to a career in medicine.

Each Rhode Island high school can submit one nominee for each of the two awards. Every year, as I read through the nominations, it becomes my booster shot of optimism for America’s future.

The nominations forms tell stories of teenagers from a variety of social and economic backgrounds who share a host of similarities. They are talented, motivated and disciplined student/athletes who spent four years bettering themselves, their schools and their communities.

There’s only enough room in the paper to write extensively about the Honor Roll Boy and Girl, but there’s a great story behind every one of the nominees. They all enjoyed playing sports, yet they all seem to understand that life should dictate sports rather then sports dictating life. They are teenagers who spent four years using sports as a way of expanding their understanding of life.

The Providence Journal Honor Roll

Barrington: Jameson Marshall; Julie Ruggieri

Bishop Hendricken: Scott Hefferman

Bishop Keough: Megan Belmont

Block Island: April Pila

Burrillville: Ryan Coffey; Kaycee Morin

Central Falls: William Ruiz; Carlene Fonseca

Central: Oteldino DaSilva; Yairy Hernandez

Chariho: Connor Capizzano; Katherine LaBelle

Classical: Jesse Stokes; Allegra Purro

Coventry: Andrew Johnson; Crystal Bourque

Cranston East: Patrick Stycos; Danielle Cohen

Cranston West: Steven Villucci; Erin Davis

Cumberland: Matthew Shalvoy; Meghan Bradley

Davies: Aristedes Taveras; Brittany Goodhart

East Greenwich: Sean Donlon; Hillary Noble

East Providence: Nicholas Barao; Beth Leonardo

Exeter/West Greenwich: Rory Hartnett; Kara Chelo

Hope: Winston Smith; Laurenmaria Smith

Johnston: Michael Kulcyk; Alicia Bubar

La Salle: Alex Iannetta; Katherine Smith

Lincoln: Matthew Menard; Jillian Butler

Lincoln School: Mary Rogers

Middletown: Anthony Formica; Kelsey McCabe

Moses Brown: John DeAscentis; Emily Abbood

Mt. Hope: Frank Campo Jr.; Jaime Sousa

Mount Pleasant: Teto Moulton; Ayesha Griffin

Mount St. Charles: Jeffrey Lace II; Danielle Turcotte

Narragansett: Andrew Staples; Elise Glidden

North Kingstown: Wilburn Logan; Siobhan Breagy

North Providence: Thomas Pagliarini; Jessica Williams

North Smithfield: Joshua Euglow; Rachel MacDonald

Our Lady of Fatima: Brennen Morton; Kristin Furtado

Pilgrim: Ian Williams; Tess Heidel

Ponaganset: Jacob Keeling; Rachel Graham

Portsmouth Abbey: Brendan Kinnane; Anastasia Beletsky

Portsmouth: Christopher Palmer; Katherine Kielbasa

Prout: Joseph Siravo; Ashley Schneck

Providence Academy of International Studies: Angel Beltre; Genifer Bustamente

Providence Country Day: Aaron Samuels; Chelsea DeCesare

Rocky Hill: Timothy Harsch; Kassandra Kist

Rogers: Anthony Ruoti; Marina Zambrotta

Scituate: Ryan Birrell; Taylor Carrington

Shea: M.R. Mohammed Abdalah; Elba Monteiro

Smithfield: Sean Smith; Jenna Buffi

South Kingstown: Jonathan Burke; Kerry Yang

St. Andrew's: Joseph Accaoui; Sarah Fiske

St. George's: Phil Yamartino; Samantha Buechner

St. Mary-Bay View: Christina Nelson

St. Raphael: Jeremy Thurber

Tiverton: Ben Conway; Elizabeth Buckley

Toll Gate: David Rittner; Kathryn Romelczyk

Tolman: Timothy Flynn; Shana Girouard

Warwick Vets: Connor Sullivan; Jacqueline Insana

West Warwick: Richard Genovesi; Hillary Tellier

Westerly: James Lathrop; Elizabeth Harrington

Wheeler: Reginald Marcellus; Caroline Barone

Woonsocket: Andrew Marsella; Lauren Anastasiades

Dick Reynolds Correspondent Scholarship Nominees

Classical: Thomas Nosal

East Providence: Brittany Oliver

Hope: Mariama Darboe

Mount St. Charles: Brendan Quinn

North Kingstown: Timothy Cappalli

South Kingstown: Kendra Coppage

jgillool@projo.com