SAC Sound-off: You get one question

March 6, 2012

We asked the members of the Student Advisory Council to pick someone they wish they could meet, and tell us why. Here are their answers:

Ancestors

Carly Joseph, Pontiac Notre Dame junior
I would ask all of my grandparents about what it was like when they were growing up.

Elle Lehman, Portland St. Patrick senior
I would ask anyone in my family who lived hundreds of years ago what it was like where my family came from, and why they moved to America.

Visionaries

Tyler Wilson, Rudyard senior
I would ask Martin Luther King Jr. how he was so brave.

Maria Buczkowski, Detroit Country Day senior
I would ask Albert Einstein to convince my teachers to have a daydreaming class in school, since he developed the theory of relativity by daydreaming.

Entrepreneurs

Alissa Jones, Muskegon Catholic Central senior
I would like to ask Steve Jobs how he came up with the idea of the Ipod gadgets.

Bailey Truesdell, Grand Blanc senior
I would like to ask Warren Buffett how he made his billions.

Sports Legends

Kevin Beazley, Detroit Catholic Central senior
Michael Jordan: What are the little things that nobody knows about or sees that brought you to the top?

Matt Freeman, Owosso junior
Bear Bryant: What does it take to become the leader he was?

Evan Lamb, Rogers City junior
Joe Paterno: I'd ask how it felt to have touched the hearts of so many people throughout the years.

Kings (of rock-n-roll)

Lena Madison, New Buffalo senior
I would like to ask Elvis Presley if is he is dead or alive still.

Grand Blanc's Fisher, Caledonia's Olsen Lead Past MHSAA Standouts at Olympics

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

August 15, 2024

Several past Michigan high school athletes participated during the recent Olympics in Paris – and several did so only a few years after starring for their high schools in MHSAA competition.

Among those who graduated from Michigan schools, Grand Blanc’s Grant Fisher and Caledonia’s Alena Olsen provided the most memorable finishes this month.

Fisher, a two-time Lower Peninsula Division 1 cross country champion and five-time champion at Track & Field Finals, won bronze medals in the Olympic 5,000 and 10,000-meter races.

After high school, Fisher went on to win NCAA championships at Stanford, and he still owns the all-MHSAA Finals record in the 1,600 (4:00.28), run in 2015 as a senior. His 14:52.5 in 2014 remains the sixth-fastest 5K time in MHSAA cross country championship history.

Olsen played volleyball and soccer at Caledonia, graduating in 2014, and was part of the bronze medal-winning U.S. rugby team in Paris. She began playing that sport as a freshman at Michigan, where she was a two-time All-America selection.

Also competing this month for the United States were the following (with high school graduation year in parentheses):

  • Heath Baldwin, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep (2019) – Track & Field (10th in decathlon)
  • Adam Coon, Fowlerville (2013) – Wrestling
  • Freddie Crittenden, Utica (2013) – Track & Field (sixth in 110 hurdles)
  • Aaron Cummings, Grand Haven – Rugby (also played football, wrestled and ran track at Grand Haven)
  • Andrew Evans, Portage Northern (2009) – Track & Field
  • Hobbs Kessler, Ann Arbor Skyline (2021) – Track & Field (fifth in 1,500)
  • Grace Stark, White Lake Lakeland (2019) – Track & Field (fifth in 100 hurdles)
  • Abby Tamer, Dexter (2021) – Field Hockey (also played soccer at Dexter)

Additionally, Devin Booker was a member of the gold medal-winning men’s basketball team; he played as a freshman at Grandville before moving to Mississippi. Cindy (Ofili) Sember from Ann Arbor Huron ran the 100 hurdles for Great Britain, Udodi Onwuzurike from Bloomfield Brother Rice ran the 200 meters for Nigeria, Alex Rose from Ogemaw Heights threw the discus for Samoa, and Myles Amine from Detroit Catholic Central wrestled for San Marino.