MHSAA News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Jan. 5, 2009
Contact: John Johnson or Andy Frushour
517.332.5046 or www.mhsaa.com
2008-09 Scholar-Athlete Award Applicants Announced
EAST LANSING, Mich. –Jan. 5 – The applicants for the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2008-09 school year have been announced.
The program, which has been recognizing student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year, will honor 32 individuals who represent their member school in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Award, and presents a $1,000 scholarship to each individual.
Scholarships are awarded proportionately by school classification and the number of student-athletes involved in those classes; and two at-large honorees will also be selected. A total of 12 scholarships will be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male.
A school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in their classification. Of 504 schools which submitted applicants, 63 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 2,008 applications were received. All will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website here.
The applications will be judged next week by a 69-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools, from which the 120 finalists and 32 scholarship recipients will be selected. Finalists will be announced on Feb. 3. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced on February 17; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced on Feb. 24; and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced on March 3. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing on March 28.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and have previously won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students were also asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and submit a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan 's major insurers, has a statewide force of over 400 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors lifesaving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.
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.
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Farm Bureau Insurance and MEEMIC Insurance
are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners
