Jayhawk Seniors Nesting for the Future
February 4, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
JACKSON – It’s tradition – at least symbolically – that a graduating class leaves behind lessons learned and memories they've helped make for the students who will come next. The same will be said for those graduating from Vandercook Lake this spring.
But a group of 13 who for the most part have been friends since kindergarten decided last fall they’d attempt to also pass on a legacy that already is making noise – literally – throughout the small community on the south end of Jackson.
The Jayhawks to come will inherit a new mascot costume, flags bearing the initials “VCL,” spirit towels and student section T-shirts.
And most of all, they’ll be able to take part in a new tradition that has made the “Nest” a Battle of the Fans II finalist this winter and symbol itself of what makes Vandercook Lake most proud.
“How close-knit we are, how much we all get along so well and everyone has fun,” senior Janessa Krueger said. “I feel like our school is good about including lots of people. Our class, we just want to leave a legacy of being the ones who started this section, and being a close-knit grade that’s really supportive.”
Vandercook Lake on Friday was the second stop on this season’s Battle of the Fans II finalists tour. The MHSAA will next visit Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard on Tuesday followed by Zeeland East on Friday. The postponement of last Thursday’s boys basketball game has pushed Buchanan’s trip to Feb. 15, and the Facebook voting that will contribute to the determination of the champion will begin a day later than previously scheduled – Feb. 19 – and end Feb. 21 with the winner then announced Feb. 22.
The Battle of the Fans played a big part in the creation of a more organized Vandercook Lake cheering effort this winter. But it wasn't the original cause.
The Jayhawks started out with the main goal of replacing the mascot costume that was stolen years before. To do so would cost $1,700. It became possible, though, because the seniors had done some significant fundraising as juniors to go with what already was in the class fund.
That got the ball rolling. But the seniors – led by that 13-member group – weren't done.
They did have some tradition from which to draw. A much less formal section was formed three seasons ago to take part in a local TV contest to pick the Jackson area’s top cheering section – and the Jayhawks finished second.
And even long before that, there was the Spirit Jug. Based on the Spirit Stick made popular by the original “Bring It On” movie, the high schoolers have long battled for the right to possess the Spirit Jug, which goes to whichever class cheers loudest during an in-school competition at the beginning of the school year (Vandercook Lake’s middle schoolers compete for a similar, but much smaller, milk jug.).
The Nest committee pushed the effort to a new level.
It’s made up of four girls and nine guys, including two basketball players and 12 athletes total. Together, they make up 15 percent of the senior class. “There isn't really anybody you don’t know. We all pretty much become friends,” Tyler Petress said, glancing toward the rest of the committee. “This is pretty much our lunch table.”
Spreading the word and sharing the work is easier with 13 people contributing. Two leaders in particular have taken on the tasks of making fliers and posters. Two more share mascot duties.
Since all are friends as well, they are comfortable sharing ideas and policing each other and the rest of the section when a chant doesn't share in the positivity the section as a whole is aspires to achieve.
“I think a lot of the planning that happens, happens outside of our meetings. ‘Oh I have a great idea; let me just text any one of you because we know each other so well,’” senior Tricia Parmalee said. “We talk to each other throughout the week, and then when we come back into the same room we at least have some idea of what’s been going on all week.”
Initiative also makes this group special. To initially get the ball rolling, half the committee met with the high school’s principal, assistant principal, athletic director and the district’s superintendent to explain desires and plans to purchase the mascot costume and spirit towels and even an idea for creating a student-only pass for games. The committee has constant dialogue with athletic director Barb Blair, who raved about the group and how it has gone about accomplishing its goals.
Of course, there have been challenges. The committee originally included others before whittling to this core group. And again, every committee member is a senior – and it’s an ongoing task to include the younger classes and make sure the legacy continues on.
The Battle of the Fans II has served as a rallying point – although that too came with some concern because Vandercook Lake is about 22 percent smaller than the next-smallest finalist.
But the Nest has simply added that to the list of worthwhile challenges that have taken on to make what they’ll leave behind so meaningful.
“Being at a smaller school, getting the recognition that we are for all of the hard work that we've done through the basketball season, to show (that work) pays off is a huge thing for our confidence,” senior Tyler Mihalatos said.
“(It shows) that maybe, even if we’re not the biggest school, this still means something.”
“For us, we’re never going to forget this stuff,” Parmalee added. “It was so fun, and it’s so fun now.”
Subway is a sponsor of this season's Battle of the Fans II contest.
PHOTOS: Vandercook Lake's cheering section follows a leader during a rollercoaster cheer Friday. (Middle) Vandercook Lake's mascot, the Jayhawk, poses with its unofficial mascot, the Junior Jayhawk. (Photos by Jenography Photos by Jen.)
Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 25, 2013
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Award for the 2012-13 school year have been announced.
The program, which has been recognizing student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year, will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Award, and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 576 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to 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. In addition, there also will be two at-large honorees which also are part of the general judging process, may come from any classification, and are designated by their school at the time of entry.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Saline has five finalists this year, while Kalamazoo Hackett and Muskegon Mona Shores have three. Eleven schools each had two finalists: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Comstock Park, Grosse Ile, Hillsdale Academy, Macomb Dakota, Okemos, Oxford, Portland, Rock Mid-Peninsula and Sand Creek.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.48, while the average of the application pool was 2.16 – both within a tenth of last year’s rates in those categories. There are 59 three-plus sport participants in the finalist field, and all but one of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 409 schools which submitted applicants, 54 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,675 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.
The applications were judged by a 66-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced on February 5; Class B scholarship recipients will be announced on February 12, and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced on February 19. 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 Final, March 23, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale), and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were 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 more than 400 agents serving more than 380,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.
2012-13 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Marcus William Barnett, St Clair Shores Lake Shore
Connor James Bos, Holland
Andrew Camp, Midland Dow
Bryan Condra, Hartland
Jarrod Eaton, St. Johns
Tristan Eggenberger, Okemos
Alex Fauer, Macomb Dakota
Thomas Greidanus, Grand Rapids Christian
Kalvis Hornburg, Traverse City Central
Reed Hrynewich, Muskegon Mona Shores
Austin Jones, Bay City Central
Tyler Scott Kemerer, Saginaw Heritage
Anthony Lamus, Saline
Jacob J. Presto, Orchard Lake St Mary's
Charles Robert Proctor, Bay City Western
David Read, Midland Dow
Harrison Schurr, Jenison
Jeremy Simon, Richland Gull Lake
Jonathan Sollish, Berkley
Thomas Spicuzza, Oxford
Jason Vander Horst, Milford
Kevin W. Walsh, Detroit Catholic Central
Pierce Watson, Lowell
Adam Whitener, Saline
GIRLS CLASS A
Kristy Allen, East Grand Rapids
Casie Ammerman, Ann Arbor Huron
Jacqueline Burke, Troy
Francesca Ciaramitaro, Grosse Pointe North
Lara Fawaz, Dearborn
Kayla Giese, Macomb Dakota
Morgan Alexandria Gilliam, North Farmington
Kristin Nicole Green, Saline
Sarah Gutknecht, Farmington
Kelly Hall, Saline
Hailey Hrynewich, Muskegon Mona Shores
Jessica Kalbfleisch, Traverse City West
Jillian Klein, Muskegon Mona Shores
Brooke Kovacic, Oxford
Teresa LaForest, St. Joseph
Elizabeth Michno, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North
Kelly Raterink, Zeeland East
Roxanne Raven, Okemos
Kerigan Riley, Livonia Churchill
Haley Schaafsma, Riverview
Carley Serowoky, Waterford Kettering
Kendall Tamler, Birmingham Seaholm
Reinie Thomas, Portage Central
Lindsay Walter, Saline
BOYS CLASS B
Michael Azzopardi, Detroit Country Day
Michael Broderick, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Brice Brown, Ionia
Michael Chickeral, Flat Rock
Thomas D. Finch, Otsego
Alec Robert Fisher, Battle Creek Harper Creek
Mark Gibson, Freeland
Patrick Gifford, Haslett
Andrew Hammond, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern
Michael Heinrich, Ludington
Luke James Hurst, Ovid-Elsie
Matthew Liu, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
Adam Olszewski, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
Scott Parkinson, Grayling
Keeton Thayer Ross, Grosse Ile
Ryan Schall, Comstock Park
GIRLS CLASS B
Brittany Beeler, Spring Lake
Ashley M. Carney, Jackson Northwest
Kelsi Caywood, Sturgis
Amanda Ciancio, Comstock Park
Morgan Kathleen Cinader, Goodrich
Mary Emington, Cadillac
Hannah C. Engle, Adrian
Nicole L. Green, Portland
Haley June Obetts, Wayland Union
Molly Oren, Hamilton
Catherine Polgar, Grosse Ile
Emily Quinn, Portland
Florence Ann Sobell, Croswell-Lexington
Anjali Sood, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
Megan Taylor, Houghton Lake
Shelby Walsh, Livonia Ladywood
BOYS CLASS C
Brian Christopher Aldrich, Kalamazoo Hackett
Jesse Anderson, Union City
Kenner Broullire, Manistique
Jesse Corbat, Breckenridge
Parker Eldred, Blanchard Montabella
Ashwin Fujii, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Zachary A. Kerr, Saugatuck
Connor Lockman, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic
Mike O'Brien, Maple City-Glen Lake
Elliott Rains, Sand Creek
Quinton Rice, Marcellus
Luke Schaffner, Clinton
GIRLS CLASS C
Alyssa R. Briolat, Ubly
Kara Craig, Schoolcraft
Lindsey Dopheide, Lawton
Margaret Elizabeth Durbin, Boyne City
Macayla Geiner, Hart
Natalie Perry, Sand Creek
Theresa Pickell, Reese
Abigail Radomsky, Kalamazoo Hackett
Kylei Ratkowski, Bronson
Faith Schroeder, Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary
Grace Smith, Kalamazoo Hackett
Nicole Winter, Watervliet
BOYS CLASS D
Charles Barchett, Watervliet Grace Christian
Charles A. Blood, Hillsdale Academy
Brett Branstrom, Rock-Mid Peninsula
Matthew R. Katz, Tekonsha
Alexander G. Knight, Lake Linden-Hubbell
Francisco Jay Noyola, Lansing Christian
Joseph Samuel Paquette, Munising
Hunter Selby, Genesee Christian
GIRLS CLASS D
Anna Marie Couture, Posen
Sarah Cullip, St. Ignace
Erica LeClaire, Dollar Bay
Elyse Kathleen Lisznyai, Hillsdale Academy
Elena Victoria Luce, Mason County Eastern
Christina Smith, Gaylord St. Mary
Kari L. Steenwyk, Ellsworth
Krysta M. VanDamme, Rock-Mid Peninsula