Awards roll in for Belle Vernon grad Viva Kreis

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Thursday, August 10, 2023 | 11:01 AM

Like a pair of new socks, two more honors rolled in for Belle Vernon alum Viva Kreis.

And they are a perfect fit.

The 2023 graduate, who bagged the $10,000 Heisman High School Scholarship Award last December and was an honorable mention for the Billie Jean King Youth Leadership Award in June, was named the Positive Athlete Western PA Most Positive Girls Multi-Sport Athlete.

She also earned the Knichel Logistics, Inc. Title IX Award.

2023 Girls Multi-Sport – Viva Kreis
Congrats to Viva Kreis from @BVAHS — Our Most Positive Girls Multi-Sport Athlete in Western PA, AND the winner of the @KnichelLogistic Title IX Award! #PositiveAthlete pic.twitter.com/RjbLxWbFjL

— Positive Athlete Western PA (@PositiveAthWPA) August 9, 2023

Kreis, who has played for the U.S. national handball team and continues to train for the sport, is a former PIAA cross country qualifier and standout guard in basketball.

The class president’s athletic prowess surely helped, but it was her contributions to social causes that caught eye of the Positive Athlete Western PA brass.

Her humanitarianism, well, knocked their socks off.

As a middle schooler, Kreis initially started to collect clothing items and toiletries for homeless military veterans during a Christmas-time project.

Her mother, Mary, served in the U.S. Army.

More recently, she organized her own initiative called, “Sock It To Homelessness,” collecting more than 2,023 pairs of socks — a number that signifies her graduation year — for the less fortunate.

She ended up collecting and donating more than 5,000 pairs of socks.

Kreis, who is attending Arizona State’s Walter Kronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, said her goal is to make a difference in the lives of young people.

Well, that is one goal. Another is making the Olympic handball team.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.

Tags: Belle Vernon