MARLBOROUGH – Sofia Ramirez-Granick works well with her hands.
A senior at Assabet Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School, she studies metal fabrication, and her work has earned her top honors in national competitions.
Ramirez-Granick also works well in the lanes. She is becoming a top-ranked bowler, both in the U.S. and in Colombia, where her mother, Claudia, was born.
Ramirez-Granick followed her brother, David, into the sport at age 10.
“I started bowling because my brother did it, and I wanted to do everything he did,” she said.
Her brother is now at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, and “this is where I plan to go” once she graduates, she said.
A Westborough resident, Ramirez-Granick recently returned from Colombia with a silver medal in a mixed team event in that country’s under-18 national tournament, and a bronze medal in female doubles.
She has also won first place in the U.S. Bowling Congress Pepsi Youth Championship in Rhode Island, and in the Rhode Island All Events tournament in the Major Girls Division. She also won a bronze medal at the Central American and Caribbean Bowling Confederation competition in Zapopan, Mexico, in May.
“It’s something fun to do,” she said of her bowling. “It’s a nice way to get away from school.”
She will soon head to Colombia to take part in the team trials, and she hopes to make the Colombian U21 teams.
“It’s a privilege to bowl for my country, which would be amazing,” she said. “Bowling is big in Colombia.”
Ramirez-Granick tries to practice at least twice a week. She works with Fran Varin, a USBC silver-certified coach, at Walnut Hill Bowl in Woonsocket, R.I., and Bowlero Cranston in Cranston, R.I.
She credits Varin and her other coaches with her development as a bowler. In Colombia, Ramirez-Granick also is helped by Team Quindío coach David Rivera, who has coached the Colombia National Women’s Team, and Clara Guerrero, a longtime member of the Professional Women’s Bowlers Association and winner of more than 50 medals internationally.
Ramirez-Granick said she hopes to attend college on a bowling scholarship.
Medals for her metal
Ramirez-Granick has been into metal fabrication for six years.
“My brother’s an Assabet grad, and I went into the metal fabrication shop and fell in love with it,” she said.
Her accomplishments with metal include a gold medal at the state SkillsUSA Leadership & Skills Conference in Marlborough in April for her work. In June, she won a silver medal at the National SkillsUSA competition in Atlanta, for a Day of the Dead-themed sculpture honoring her Hispanic heritage.
Ramirez-Granick said she wants to pursue a career in sculpting and own her own business. In addition to shop and academics, she is working at Crocker Architectural in North Oxford through the school’s co-op program.
“The entire Assabet community is proud of Sofia and all of her achievements,” said Superintendent Ernest Houle. “She has so many different talents, and her drive shows her fellow students that hard work and focus can take them anywhere they want to go.”
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