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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Feb. 24, 2009 Scholar-Athlete Award Recipients for Class B Schools Announced EAST LANSING , Mich. - Feb. 24 - The nine Class B scholarship recipients of the 2008-09 Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Scholar Athlete-Award have been selected. Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 20th year of sponsoring the award, will give a $1,000 college scholarship to 32 individuals who represent their member school in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a post-season tournament. The first 30 scholarships are awarded proportionately by school classification and the number of student-athletes involved in those classes; and there are two at-large honorees which can come from any classification. Each of the scholarship recipients will be honored at halftime ceremonies of the Class C Boys Basketball final game at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing on March 28. Commemorative medallions will be given to other finalists in recognition of their accomplishments. The Class B Scholar-Athlete Award honorees are: Katlin Abbs, Sturgis; Erin Benjamin, Chelsea; Courtney Clancy, Richland Gull Lake; Abigail Cohen, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood; Adam Dingens, Corunna; Daniel DuComb, Bloomfield Hills Cranbook-Kingswood; Timothy Hochradel, Milan; Kyle Lark, Alma; and Halley Rycenga, South Haven. Overviews of the scholarship recipients of the Class B Scholar-Athlete Award follow. A quote from each recipient's essay is also included:
Essay Quote - “Sportsmanship is about playing fair. If you display sportsmanship it will open your eyes to new and exciting things, however if you lack sportsmanship it can be a big disadvantage. Being a good sport can be learned or just acquired, but it is important to becoming a good respectable athlete both in high school sports and in life.”
Essay Quote - “A true good sport acts not only when everyone is watching, but in more subtle ways. It is a humble acceptance of defeat, saying “good game” when the crowd cannot hear, or cheering on a teammate in his success even as you might be struggling.”
Essay Quote - “While achieving success in athletics is certainly a goal, one must play beyond the scoreboard, as the sportsmanship maintained and the relationships established throughout a high school sports career are incalculably important.”
Essay Quote - “High school athletics are called educational athletics for good reason; they teach student-athletes the skills to succeed in life, along with providing student-athletes with opportunities to have fun and compete. Sportsmanship, and therefore respect, are some of the most important lessons that are easily learned in educational athletics.”
Essay Quote -“Sportsmanship is often defined as behaving in a courteous and civil manner toward an opposing team, but there is an intangible quality about sportsmanship that is much more important. Sportsmanship allows for sports to transcend events that transpire on the field and become an important tool for teaching student-athletes life lessons.”
Essay Quote - “Sportsmanship is your athletic character, and without it we lose the integrity of competition.”
Essay Quote - “When the scoreboard at the end of the game is in favor of my team it is always nice, but when an opponent shows sportsmanship and lets me know how well I did after the game; that is a true sense of accomplishment.”
Essay Quote - “Part of good sportsmanship is being a team player. That means not only working hard to score points for your team, but also building each other up every step of the way.” Other Class B girls finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Sarah Kemmer, Bay City John Glenn; Leah Steinhauser, Berrien Springs; Katherine Congdon Blessing, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood; Abigail Cohen, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood; Breanna Kellogg, DeWitt; Kara Marie Nusbaum, Hillsdale; Amber Hop, Holland Christian; Lindsay Johnson, Holland Christian; Meghan Petiprin, North Branch; Margaret Liederbach, Petoskey; Chelsea Guzikowski, Reed City; and Emily Holt, Wyoming Rogers. Other Class B boys finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Ty Richards, Bay City John Glenn; Kyle Jensen, Gladstone; David Rietema, Grand Rapids Christian; David Ptacek, Hamilton; Dylan McKay, Hastings; Korey Caulkins, Hillsdale; Scott Lantis, Hillsdale; Christopher A. Siegler, Kingsford; Andrew Doane, Lake Odessa Lakewood; Samuel Rowe, Milan; Cody Stawecki, North Branch; and Nathan Lee, Spring Lake. Previously announced were the Class C and D scholarship recipients. The Class C Scholar-Athlete Award honorees are: Christopher Hessell, New Haven; Kelsey Hutchinson, Ottawa Lake Whiteford; Jeffrey Petsch, Montague; Jennica Richards, Cass City; Christopher Rush, Leroy Pine River; and Rachel Stattler, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart. The Class D Scholar-Athlete Award scholarship recipients are: Andrew Bauer, Bay City All Saints; Rebekah Kline, Auburn Hills Oakland Christian; Julie Schultz, Holland Calvary; and Ethan Smith, Hillsdale Academy. Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be carrying at least a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average, and have previously won a letter in a varsity sport in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Other requirements for the applicants were to show active participation in other school and community activities and produce an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics. Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan's major insurers, has a statewide force of 450 agents serving more than 450,000 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 1,800 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- Farm Bureau Insurance and MEEMIC Insurance are year-round MHSAA Corporate Partners |