Student Advisory Council

 Adopted Nov. 2007

From the Fall 2011 edition of Benchmarks.  Video was posted on the front page of MHSAA.com

The first SAC meeting of the new school year has always been scheduled the last Sunday in August.  It’s always fun to meet the new student-athletes and try to figure out the new group dynamic. As in previous years we’ll have our first “official” meeting on that last Sunday in August.

This year, however, the first meeting will be a bit different. For the first time, we took our new crew of SAC members on an overnight leadership retreat earlier this summer. The goal was to meet with each other outside of the MHSAA setting, and to start to build our team and a bond before getting down to business in August. So on June 21-22 we gathered at the YMCA’s Mystic Lake Camp for 24 hours of team building and leadership exercises. While there, we participated as a group on the High Ropes course 30-feet off the ground. We played new icebreaker games like Fwap, Zero Gravity and Build-A-Beast. We organized an intense game of 7-on-7 Ultimate Frisbee. We slept in cabins and ate camp food. We learned secret talents of our group members (we have a Scotty McCreery sound-a-like and a champion pancake eater in our crew), and we talked about the importance of being a team leader and how team leadership experiences will carry over to the students’ time on the MHSAA Student Advisory Council.

Selected to begin serving on the Student Advisory Council in 2011-12 are: Abigail Radomsky, Kalamazoo Hackett; Matthew Freeman, Owosso; Carly Joseph, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; Ellesse Lehman, Portland St. Patrick; Kyle Short, Rockford; Evan Lamb, Rogers City; Thye Fischman, Vandercook Lake; and Taylor Krumm, Walled Lake Central.

The new additions to the SAC will join the Class of 2012 member who were selected a year ago: Kevin Beazley, Detroit Catholic Central; Maria Buczkowski, Detroit Country Day; Travis Clous, Benzie Central; Alissa Jones, Muskegon Catholic Central; Lena Madison, New Buffalo; Bailey Truesdell, Grand Blanc; Emily Wee, Frankenmuth; and Tyler Wilson, Rudyard.
 

The Student Advisory Council is a 16-member group which provides feedback on issues impacting educational athletics from a student’s perspective, and is also involved in the operation of Association championship events and other programming.  Members of the Student Advisory Council serve for two years, beginning as juniors.  Eight new members are selected annually to serve on the SAC, with nominations made by MHSAA member schools.  The incoming juniors will join the group of eight seniors-to-be  appointed a year ago.

Selected to begin serving on the Student Advisory Council in 2011-12 are:  Abigail Radomsky, Kalamazoo Hackett;  Matthew Freeman, Owosso; Carly Joseph, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep; Ellesse Lehman, Portland St. Patrick;  Kyle Short, Rockford; Evan Lamb, Rogers City; Thye Fischman, Vandercook Lake; and Taylor Krumm, Walled Lake Central. 

The Student Advisory Council will meet five times each school year.  In addition to assisting in the promotion of the educational value of interscholastic athletics, the council will discuss issues dealing with the 4 S’s of educational athletics: scholarship, sportsmanship, safety (including health and nutrition), and the sensible scope of athletic programs.  There will also be a fifth S discussed by the group -- student leadership.

The new additions to the SAC will join the Class of 2012 member who were selected a year ago:  Kevin Beazley, Detroit Catholic Central; Maria Buczkowski, Detroit Country Day;  Travis Clous, Benzie Central; Alissa Jones, Muskegon Catholic Central; Lena Madison, New Buffalo; Bailey Truesdell, Grand Blanc; Emily Wee, Frankenmuth; and Tyler Wilson, Rudyard.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,500 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-

(Click on graphic to see sample page.)

EAST LANSING, Mich.  –  The Michigan High School Athletic Association created its Student Advisory Council four years ago to serve not only as the voice of high school student-athletes in the state, but also as a service arm of the organization.  This month, the Council again provides leadership to its peers with the release of a publication written by its members and aimed at sports team captains.

Captains 101 – A Curriculum For Success, is a 24-page booklet designed for team captains to prepare them for their leadership role.  The publication will encourage team captains in the proper way to communicate ideas with team members and others.

The book contains seven units – What Is A Team Captain?; Relationship With Your Coach; Relationship With Your Team; Relationship With Other Groups; Team Building; Start A Student Advisory Council At Your School; and a Self-Assessment unit.  Each unit challenges team captains to take action in a way that helps set the tone for a successful educational athletic experience.

“A team captain gets thrust in their leadership role, and they don’t always know how to embrace it,” said Andy Frushour, the MHSAA’s Marketing and Special Program Coordinator who works with the Student Advisory Council.  “Captains 101 offers some general thoughts on being a team captain and how to become an effective leader.”

Student Advisory Council members from the Classes of 2009, 2010 and 2011 contributed to the publication.  From the Class of 2009:  Abby Cohen, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood; Willie Cruz, Harrison Township L’Anse Creuse; Michelle DeMuro, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer; Adam Dingman, Cedarville; Matt Herman, East Kentwood; Molly Lockwood, Fife Lake Forest Area; Jeff Petsch, Montague; and C.C. Weber, Goodrich.  From the Class of 2010:  Mackenzie Lawler, Okemos; Andrea McIntosh, Ann Arbor Greenhills; Elyse McKenna, Marine City Cardinal Mooney; Ryan Moore, Central Lake; Taylor Schultz, Richland Gull Lake; Nicole Trevarthen, Iron Mountain; Alex Van Tiem, Detroit U-D Jesuit; and Daniel Yats, Clare.   From the Class of 2011:  Alexa Bean, Livonia Clarenceville; Dustan Craig, Buchanan; Elizabeth Gupton, Lapeer West; Charles Hengesbach, Pewamo-Westphalia; Jay Miller, Ionia; Benjamin Olson, Troy; Amanda Smith, Bellevue; and Chloe Weaver, Climax-Scotts.

The publication, which will be distributed in quantity to each MHSAA member senior high school, was underwritten by the Ruster Advisory Board, the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the Michigan High School Coaches Association.

 Here are comments from some of the Student Advisory Council members about the publication:

• Dan Yats, Clare High School: “After working for almost a year on this book, we are excited for the release and we’re hoping for a great response from the recipients.”
• Jay Miller, Ionia High School: “Coming into this council as a new member, I wasn’t involved with this process until the editing, but I could tell how passionate the seniors were about this book, and once I read it, I could tell why.”
• Elizabeth Gupton, Lapeer West High School:  “After all of the work that our council put into the book, I am excited to see the reaction of future readers and the change in high school captains.”

Two years ago, the Student Advisory Council created a belief statement which is shown during every MHSAA televised event on FSDetroit and the MHSAA Network.  The Council is a 16-member body made up of eight seniors and eight juniors, who each serve two year terms.  The Council acts as the voice of Michigan's student-athletes; serves as a student sounding board for the MHSAA's Representative Council; assists in planning Sportsmanship Summits, Captain's Clinics and other student leadership events; participates in a yearly focus group about the state of high schools sports for Michigan State University's Institute for the Study of Youth Sports; and assists with medal ceremonies at MHSAA championship events.