Senior New Trier girls basketball player Jeannie Boehm was one of 24 student athletes invited to play in the McDonald’s High School All American Game.

Boehm, a 6-foot-3 forward, has been receiving national media attention lately for her basketball achievements.

Boehm found out about her invitation to the event after a game on Jan. 16. She was wrapping up an interview with a Chicago Tribune reporter when her coach asked if she wanted to know the All American game rosters.

“She told me I had made the team and that I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone until the selection show, which was Sunday night,” Boehm said.

The McDonald’s All American game started in 1977, and it has been held every year since.

McDonald’s brings together the country’s best boys and girls high school basketball players for a weekend full of reward shows, a trip to the Ronald McDonald house and a game played in front of over 20,000 fans. The event is also televised nationally on ESPN.

Basketball superstars who have been invited to play in the past include Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Derrick Rose, Maya Moore and Candace Parker.

Being able to join that list of successful players is an exciting moment for Boehm. “I was truly shocked at first,” Boehm said. “Especially growing up in Chicago with some of the great players who have gone to the game. It’s crazy to be considered in the same category.”

Boehm said she is anxiously anticipating the game with different emotions.

“I am really excited to meet all of the players, both girls and boys,” Boehm said.

She is rostered on the West team, so she will be playing with other girls from California, Colorado, and Washington.

“I think I am definitely most nervous to go up against all of the girls,” Boehm said. “I don’t think I have ever gone up against girls this good in my life. So it’s going to be exciting, but I am definitely nervous for it.”

Last year, Boehm committed to playing college basketball at Harvard, which she choose over Duke, Northwestern and Princeton.

“It was a really long recruiting process, but it came down to my relationship with the players and coaches,” Boehm said.
“I always wanted a great academic school, and at Harvard, I found that as well as great coaches I got along with well.”

Many sacrifices have been made in Boehm’s young basketball career to propel her to the stage she is at now.

“Looking back after something like this I definitely owe a lot to my parents,” Boehm said. “My dad has been working with me since I was really little on basketball stuff and my mom has been there to drive me to everything.”

Even though she recognizes the cliché of  thanking her  parents, she is truly grateful for her mom and dad.

When you look at the rest of Boehm’s family, it makes sense why she has been so successful. Boehm is the fifth  of six athletic kids in her family and she is the only girl.

Two of her brothers played college basketball at Harvard and Dartmouth, one was a pitcher for Bucknell and another brother rowed there too. Her younger brother, Spencer, is a 6’8” freshman who is the starting center on New Trier’s boys varsity basketball team. At 6’3”, Boehm is the smallest of her siblings.

In the past 39 years of McDonald’s All-American games, the matches have been held across America, in cities including Albuquerque, St. Louis, Colorado Springs, and Philadelphia.

However, since 2011, the All-American games have been hosted in Chicago at the United Center each year.

To watch Boehm represent New Trier and the entire Chicagoland area as she competes against the best players in the country, tune into ESPN and ESPNU on April 1 at 5:30 pm CT.