Alpena students text2win $50,000

January 24, 2012

Alpena High School -- and more specifically its Kids and Parents United Together (KAPUT) program -- recently received a $50,000 prize from Verizon after the school received 450,000 text votes as part of the company's TXT2WIN contest.

KAPUT provides safe events and activities for teens. Although this prize isn't specifically designated for athletics, Alpena previously has been recognized for promoting school sports. The community's CHAMPS program – Community Helping Athletes Maintain Positive Sportsmanship  -- received the MHSAA's SCOPE award in 2007.

Alpena, a Class A school with roughly 1,300 students, competed against schools from 15 states.

To read more, click on this link to The Alpena News.

Captain Salata leads Whitmore Lake (AnnArbor.com)

May 22, 2012

Emma Salata twice has been named all-league and her golf team's Most Valuable Player, and holds the school's 9 and 18-hole records. And she's done all of that playing each spring for the boys team at Whitmore Lake, which does not have a girls golf team.

AnnArbor.com's Matt Durr tells how Salata got started playing the game with her grandparents, and then became a star of the spring after playing her first season of high school golf during the fall with the Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard girls. Salata has signed to play next season for the Western Michigan University women's team. 

Whitmore Lake girls golfer earns college scholarship by playing with the boys (AnnArbor.com)