Extra Effort Award: Jenna McDonald leads Garner volleyball

Garner Magnet High School's Jenna McDonald started playing volleyball when she was eight years old.

"I wasn't very good, no," McDonald laughed.

Throw in a decade of competing in club and at school, and well, things change.

"She walked on the court and we started to do evaluations and we were like, 'wow, this is great!'" Garner assistant coach Gerald Siemering said.

Great it's been, a speaking captain since a sophomore.

"She was good at volleyball and she's a good leader, so it was a natural fit to have her as the captain," Garner head volleyball coach Jason Boyette said.

"I'm there and then, it's just me on the court with my teammates," McDonald said.

Off the court, McDonald is part of Garner's IB program, International Baccalaureate, which inspires curiosity and critical thinking, while being academically rigorous.

"It gives you space to justify your own opinion and discuss different topics that matter to you," McDonald said.

"She enjoys the hard work, and that to me is a natural leader," assistant principal Mary Valcheff.

"She's willing to look at what she's done and progress and if she fails she's just like okay, let's continue to grow," Siemering said.

Even when disaster struck this season and she broke her hand, McDonald led from the bench, even returning at a different position, just so she could finish the ride with her team.

"She is the embodiment of the Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award, she does it in the classroom, on the court, in the community, that seems to be the recurring theme, they were a great leader everywhere they went," Boyette said.

And that's why Jenna McDonald is this week's winner of the Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award.