Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics
Michigan High School Athletic Association - Promoting Educational Athletics |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Aug. 11, 2008 MHSAA Representative Council Member Karen Leinaar EAST LANSING, Mich. – Aug. 11 – Karen Leinaar, athletic director at Benzie Central High School, has been selected to an at-large position on the National Federation of State High School Association’s Board of Directors. Her four-year term begins with the 2008-09 school year. Leinaar has been an athletic administrator for 23 years, including serving at Gaylord High School and Delton-Kellogg High School. Her work has expanded beyond the local level to positions of athletic leadership on the statewide and national scenes. In 1997, Leinaar became the first woman elected by schools to a statewide position on the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Representative Council, and she has since been reelected five times to her at-large seat on that board. In addition to since serving on numerous committees and in other roles with the MHSAA, she has been a registered official in six sports for over 20 years. An active member of both the Michigan and National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Associations, Leinaar has chaired the NIAAA’s Awards Committee, and served as president of the MIAAA. Leinaar has also been recognized for her work in educational athletics with the MHSAA’s Women In Sports Leadership Award in 1998, and the MIAAA presented her with its statewide Athletic Director of the Year Award in 2007. A multiple-sport standout at Delton-Kellogg High School, graduating in 1977, Leinaar earned her Bachelor's Degree in physical education from Michigan State University in 1982, and her Master's Degree in athletic administration from Western Michigan University in 1994. The National Federation of High School Associations, from its offices in Indianapolis, Indiana, serves its 50 member state high school athletic/activity associations, plus the District of Columbia. The NFHS publishes playing rules in 16 sports for boys and girls competition and administers fine arts programs in speech, theater, debate and music. The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,600 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. -0- AT&T, Farm Bureau Insurance, Henry Ford Health System and MEEMIC Insurance |