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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE-Sept. 27, 2002
Contact: John Johnson or Randy Allen
517.332.5046 or www.mhsaa.com
Scholar-Athlete Applications
Now Available Exclusively
In Digital Form In Member Schools, On Internet
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Sept. 26 - Applications for one of
the Michigan High School Athletic Association's most popular
programs - the Scholar-Athlete Award - are now available exclusively
in digital format through the MHSAA Web Site (www.mhsaa.com)
and on the annual CD-ROM sent to member school senior high school
athletic directors.
The Scholar-Athlete Award, underwritten by Farm Bureau Insurance,
highlights the value that extra-curricular activities play in
the total education of a high school student, often improving
their academic achievements in the process. The Scholar-Athlete
Award is in its 12th year of awarding $1,000 scholarships to
24 top student-athletes from MHSAA member schools, and which
will recognize nearly 3,000 outstanding individuals in 2002-03.
Since its inception in 1988-89, Farm Bureau Insurance has presented
over $275,000 in scholarships through this program.
The Scholar-Athlete Award presents a scholarship in every activity
in which the Association sponsors a post-season tournament. The
scholarships may be used at the institution of higher learning
the recipients attend during the first year at those colleges.
Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be graduating
during the 2002-03 school year, be carrying an unrounded 3.50
(on a 4.0) grade point average, and have won a varsity letter
in the sport in which they are applying prior to their senior
year. The 24 sports the MHSAA sponsors post-season competition
are girls basketball, boys and girls cross country, football,
boys golf, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving, and girls
tennis in the fall; boys basketball, girls competitive cheer
(not sideline cheerleading, dance or pom pon), girls gymnastics,
ice hockey, boys and girls skiing, boys swimming & diving,
girls volleyball, and wrestling in the winter; and baseball,
girls golf, girls soccer, softball, boys tennis, and boys and
girls track and field in the spring.
Applicants will also be required to show involvement in other
school-community activities and submit an essay on the importance
of sportsmanship in educational athletics. Each MHSAA member
school will be allowed to nominate one student-athlete in each
championship activity, and an individual may be nominated in
more than one sport.
Applications are available only in digital format - no paper
application materials have been printed in 2002-03. Students
may obtain a copy from their school from the CD-ROM, or the downloadable
forms on the MHSAA Web site need only be saved to a computer,
filled out in nearly any word processing program - in Windows
or Macintosh platforms -- and then printed out to be attached
to the required essay and letters of recommendation. Students
must submit their applications to their school athletic director,
principal or guidance counselor by November 25, 2002.
Students should check with their school administration to determine
who the internal coordinator for the program is. Schools have
additional materials to submit with student applications, and
each school must submit all of its applications at one time.
Individually mailed applications to the MHSAA office will not
be accepted.
A direct link to the application materials is available until
November 25 on the home page of the MHSAA Web site.
A committee composed of school administrators from across the
state will select regional and statewide winners in January,
with the winners to be announced in February. All applicants,
finalists and scholarship recipients will be announced on the
MHSAA Web site. The 24 scholarship recipients will be recognized
at the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events
Center in East Lansing on March 22, 2003.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary
membership by over 1,300 public and private senior high schools
and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common
rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government
funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such
association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament
entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these
rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which
attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.
MEDIA ADVISORY - For additional information about Farm Bureau's
involvement in this program, contact Luke Schafer, Public Relations
Manager, at 517/323-7000.
Farm Bureau Insurance and MEEMIC Insurance
are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners
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