2021-22 Scholar-Athlete Applications Available
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 11, 2021
One of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s most popular programs, the Scholar-Athlete Award, will again with Farm Bureau Insurance present 32 $2,000 scholarships to top student-athletes at member high schools during the 2021-22 school year.
The MHSAA-Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award highlights the value extracurricular activities play in the total education of high school students, often improving their academic achievements in the process. The Scholar-Athlete Award is in its 33rd year. Since the award’s inception in 1988-89, Farm Bureau Insurance has presented $896,000 in scholarships through this program.
The first 30 scholarships will be presented on a graduated basis across the MHSAA’s traditional class structure. From Class A schools, six boys and six girls will receive scholarships; from Class B schools, four boys and four girls; from Class C schools, three boys and three girls; and from Class D schools, two boys and two girls will be honored. The final two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size. The scholarships may be used at the institution of higher learning the recipients attend during the first year at those colleges.
Applications from individual schools will be limited to the number of available scholarships in their enrollment class. Class A schools may submit the names of six boys and six girls, Class B schools may submit four boys and four girls, Class C may submit three boys and three girls and Class D may submit two boys and two girls.
Students applying for Scholar-Athlete Awards must be graduating during the 2021-22 school year, be carrying an unrounded 3.5 (on a 4.0) grade-point average and have won a varsity letter in a sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament: baseball, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls and boys cross country, football, girls and boys golf, girls gymnastics, ice hockey, girls and boys lacrosse, girls and boys skiing, girls and boys soccer, softball, girls and boys swimming & diving, girls and boys tennis, girls and boys track & field, girls volleyball and wrestling.
Applicants will be required to show involvement in other school and community activities and submit an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Information – including answers to a number of frequently asked questions – is available online on the Scholar-Athlete Award page of the MHSAA Website. Applications are available in digital format only, either via the Scholar-Athlete Award page or directly at https://www.mhsaa.com/scholarship. All applications must be submitted online by 4 p.m. Dec. 3.
A committee composed of school administrators from across the state will select finalists and winners in late January, with the winners to be announced throughout February. All applicants, finalists and scholarship recipients will be announced on the MHSAA Website. The 32 scholarship recipients will be recognized during the MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan was founded in 1949 by Michigan farmers who wanted an insurance company that worked as hard as they did. Those values still guide the company today and are a big reason why it is known as Michigan’s Insurance Company, dedicated to protecting the farms, families, and businesses of this great state. Farm Bureau Insurance agents across Michigan provide a full range of insurance services—life, home, auto, farm, business, retirement, Lake Estate®, and more—protecting nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 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 more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
8 Members Elected to MHSAA Representative Council
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 23, 2026
Elections were completed recently to fill positions on the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s legislative body, its Representative Council, with six members receiving re-election from their respective constituencies and two more members also selected to join the Council beginning with its Fall meeting this December.
Five Council members were re-elected to two-year terms after running unopposed: Petoskey athletic director Mike Bakker for a statewide at-large position, Brighton athletic director John Thompson to represent Class A and B schools in the southeastern section of the Lower Peninsula, Richland Gull Lake athletic director Karyn Furlong to represent Class A and B schools in the southwestern section of the Lower Peninsula, Cadillac athletic director Fred Bryant to represent Class A and B schools in the northern section of the Lower Peninsula and Bangor athletic director Fred Smith to represent junior high and middle schools.
Three Council members were elected to two-year terms by a majority vote. Calumet faculty member and past athletic director Sean Jacques was re-elected to represent Class C and D schools in the Upper Peninsula. Charlevoix athletic director Alex Tiseo – who previously served on the Council while on staff at Marquette High School – was elected to represent Class C and D schools in the northern section of the Lower Peninsula. Mike Evoy – who serves as director of the Catholic High School League and director of well-being for Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Detroit – was elected to represent private and parochial schools.
The Representative Council is the 19-member legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee. The Council meets three times annually. Five members of the Council convene monthly during the school year to form the MHSAA’s Executive Committee, which reviews appeals of Handbook regulations by member schools.
Additional elections took place to select representatives to the Upper Peninsula Athletic Committee. Lake Linden-Hubbell athletic director Jack Kumpula was re-elected to represent Class D schools, and West Iron County High School and Middle School principal Mike Berutti was re-elected to represent high school athletic coaches. Both of those elections were uncontested.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 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 more than 1.4 million spectators each year.