Chance to Touch Lives 'Drives' Huron's Sesi
May 25, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Only a few times, collecting more than 300,000 cans and bottles was as gross as it might sound.
Of course there was some mold, and a few bags had dead mice in them. Once, a bag was filled with ants, and Katie Sesi and her family would find them crawling around their car for the next month.
Another time, a duck bit her.
But those are just some of the funnier memories that were more than worth the opportunity for Sesi to meet and help an untold number of people, beginning when she was 6 years old – truly a life’s work so far for the Ann Arbor Huron junior.
Sesi is a recipient of an MHSAA/Lake Trust Credit Union “Community Service Award” for her work raising $40,000 over the last decade for University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Playing her violin at the Ann Arbor Art Fair annually beginning in elementary school, and then taking on a can drive that’s seen her canvass neighborhoods all over her city and surrounding area, Sesi has managed to raise $10,000 every two years since 2010.
She’s also met at least 50 of her donors over that decade and received in the neighborhood of 300 letters from people encouraging her work and asking how else they might help.
“Meeting new people is just a good experience. It’s really interesting to learn about other people’s lives,” Sesi said. “My favorite part was the personal interaction. When I started doing the can drives, I didn’t think I’d talk to a bunch of people and learn their life stories. But people leave me notes that say, ‘Hey, you should come talk to me.’ For me, just talking to people is really fun. The unexpected chance to meet more people has been very memorable.”
It’s also an incredible story, considering Sesi’s decision to start lending a hand as barely an elementary schooler.
She’s played the violin since she was 3, and recalled reading a newspaper article about two girls playing their violins at a similar outside event. She thought to herself, I should do the same. Her mother, Yvonne Sesi, challenged her to make it happen.
Katie then realized that being 6, she didn’t really need the money people would give her while passing by. So she began saving toward what would eventually become that first $10,000 donation.
At 9, with her mom at the wheel, Katie started her can drives. The first netted only $9. But she didn’t give up. At times she would work neighborhoods every weekend, leaving a flier at people’s houses explaining her mission and letting them know when she’d be back to collect.
Soon, the car was regularly full with the front seats moved up as far as possible to make room for the overflowing supply of returnables. She estimates she’s collected cans and bottles “several hundred” times.
Sesi’s first donation to C.S. Mott went toward building “The Treehouse” indoor playground, and subsequent donations have gone toward research of childhood cancers and the hospital’s Child and Family Life center, which provides support for patients and their families during treatment.
Yvonne is a doctor, and Katie is interested in becoming a pediatric oncologist (or going into business, or perhaps both). Helping children is especially close to her heart; one of her most memorable can drive interactions came with a family that had lost a son to lymphoma who had been treated at Mott; they invited her in to meet their newborn daughter they’d adopted after his death.
She’s choosing to donate half of her $1,000 award to U-M’s Chad Tough Fund, which directs funds to childhood cancer research in honor of Chad Carr, the grandson of retired Wolverines coach Lloyd Carr who died in November 2015 at age 5 after a fight with pediatric brain cancer. She’ll donate the other half of her award to the Ann Arbor Huron girls tennis team; she’s an all-state No. 1 singles player and team captain.
A regular in some neighborhoods, where people recognize her from past drives, Sesi said she’s learned a lot about perseverance and hard work – but again, is most inspired by the many people she’s met along the way.
“I knew early on that I wanted the money to go to children with cancer because it seemed to me completely unfair that kids should be denied a carefree and fun childhood,” Sesi wrote in her application for the award. “All together, I found that people have tremendous hearts and an unlimited capacity for supporting, helping and giving to others."
The Community Service Awards are sponsored by the Michigan High School Athletic Association and Lake Trust Credit Union to recognize student-athletes' efforts to improve the lives of others in their communities. In addition to the $1,000 award, the Lake Trust Foundation is awarding an additional $500 to each honoree, to be donated to a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization of the awardee’s choice.
PHOTOS: (Top) Katie Sesi, next to her violin case, has played to raise money every summer since she was 6 at the Ann Arbor Art Fair. (Middle) Sesi has received hundreds of notes like this one thanking her for her efforts. (Photos courtesy of Katie Sesi.)
2017 Community Service Awards
Sunday: Colon "Yard Squad" - Read
Monday: Bailey Brown, Brighton - Read
Tuesday: Justice Ottinger, Newaygo - Read
Trail-Blazing Beckett Leads On
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 27, 2013
Barbara Beckett had an idea this was going to be big.
But until she arrived in East Lansing for the 1995 MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals, she had no idea how major a deal her next assignment would be.
Beckett had made the trip from Traverse City for Boys Finals weekend before, and officiated Semifinals two of the three previous seasons. But until that Saturday’s Class C Final between Ishpeming and Lakeview, no woman had ever officiated an MHSAA boys basketball championship game.
“I was pretty fearless. I was really, really driven to succeed,” Beckett said. “I was just so happy I got to be that person. It could’ve been a couple of other people. We had other women who were tremendous officials. I was very fortunate.”
Many who have worked with Beckett over the last three decades would claim the same. A 30-year MHSAA registered official, and the Grand Traverse Bay YMCA program director for the last 28, Beckett has left a long-lasting imprint on athletics not just in the northern Lower Peninsula, but statewide. She will be presented with the 26th MHSAA Women in Sports Leadership Award during halftime of the Girls Basketball Class A Final on March 16 at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center.
“Barbara Beckett is a demonstrated leader, evidenced by her previously being awarded the Norris Award for her efforts in recruiting and training officials,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA. “In that regard, she’s a trailblazer for women in the officiating family, and her influence continues to be felt. We’re pleased to honor her with the Women In Sports Leadership Award.”
Each year, the Representative Council considers the achievements of women coaches, officials and athletic administrators affiliated with the MHSAA who show exemplary leadership capabilities and positive contributions to athletics.
Beckett worked with Donald Gustafson and Todd Geerlings on the crew that called the 1995 Class C Boys Basketball Final. But that wasn't her first experience reffing the guys.
On top of officiating games at lower levels of the MHSAA tournaments, she also had begun reffing rec league games at the Y during the early 1980s. That might’ve come as a shock to some of those players – but she must’ve won them over, as now she helps build programs for their children and grandchildren.
During her nearly three decades at the Y, she’s developed women’s, men’s and co-ed softball leagues that have grown to include more than 1,500 players and a men’s recreational basketball league with more than 250 participants. Under her guidance, the YMCA’s Pop Warner football league has grown to become one of the largest in the Midwest with 2,500 players.
She also achieved another MHSAA first in 2000 when she became the first female selected for the Vern L. Norris Award for her work as an official.
“My purpose always has been to be an advocate for the officials and game participants,” Beckett said. “I try to be an active advocate all the time. And working for the Y too, we’re all about participation. My time 24 hours a day is actively advocating for game participants and officials.”
Beckett is a 1971 graduate of Mount Pleasant High School and a 1973 graduate of Northwestern Michigan College. She briefly left Traverse City after college before returning a few years later, and became involved with the thriving and close-knit recreational scene in her new hometown. She soon began working part-time at the YMCA, in charge of organizing its basketball program.
Her credo as program director is similar to that of the MHSAA – she creates programs for people who want to participate, and she works to give them the best possible experience in part by making sure the programs are managed by qualified officials.
But she’s also made it a priority to mentor and provide a positive influence to women and men both who are following in her paths.
“At times, it can be very intimidating to be one of the few women in our field. Barb has such an amazing relationship with those she works with and for. To tell you the truth, I can’t say if I know of anyone more well-liked and respected who does so many things,” said Heather Simpson, who coaches volleyball at Traverse City St. Francis, girls basketball at Traverse City Central and works for Beckett at the YMCA.
“I can’t imagine where I would be had I not been able to work and learn from someone like Barb Beckett. I work with young athletes currently, and I want for them to see that women can be a success in whatever they choose. We talk about choices in life. … I try each day to choose to do something positive. That’s what I learned from Barb. Women can make an impact. Women can make a difference. Barb has made such an impact in our area in the world of athletics. She has opened so many doors for so many women.”
Beckett also has worked three MHSAA Girls Basketball Finals and three Softball Finals, twice serving at the latter as umpire in chief, and was an alternate for a number of other championship games. She has officiated several Boys and Girls Basketball Semifinals and Softball Quarterfinals during her career, and continues to serve as president of both the Grand Traverse Area Umpires Association and the Northern Sports Officials Association. She also serves as an assigner of girls and boys basketball and softball officials in the Traverse City area, and was named to the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan Hall of Honor in 2006.
Beckett also has served as commissioner of District 19 of the Michigan Amateur Softball Association since 1992, and has been instrumental in hosting four women’s, two men’s and one co-ed state final. She’s officiated both women and men’s MASA state finals and received that body’s Award of Excellence in 1996.
“Barb Beckett believes in how athletics and extracurricular activities can impact our kids and communities in such a positive way. So often when I am frustrated with how things are going and how everyone points fingers, she simply says to me, ‘Heather, be part of the solution, not part of the problem,’” Simpson said. “She reminds me that I can make a difference, just as she has with so many. We are in a society where it’s all about travel teams and what the scoreboard says; Barb is still old school and cares about the product she puts out there and the relationships that are formed from her work at the YMCA and in athletics. People like Barb, who care so much for those around her, get lost in the shuffle.
"Administrators call her, officials call her, coaches call her and parents call her for advice and simply just to talk. For me, she has done so many things to help me grow as a person, as a coach and a leader in our community. It's an honor to work for and with Barb Beckett. I truly think that each and every one of us could benefit from sitting in her office and just listening to her."
Past Women In Sports Leadership Award recipients:
1990 – Carol Seavoy, L’Anse
1991 – Diane Laffey, Harper Woods
1992 – Patricia Ashby, Scotts
1993 – Jo Lake, Grosse Pointe
1994 – Brenda Gatlin, Detroit
1995 – Jane Bennett, Ann Arbor
1996 – Cheryl Amos-Helmicki, Huntington Woods
1997 – Delores L. Elswick, Detroit
1998 – Karen S. Leinaar, Delton
1999 – Kathy McGee, Flint
2000 – Pat Richardson, Grass Lake
2001 – Suzanne Martin, East Lansing
2002 – Susan Barthold, Kentwood
2003 – Nancy Clark, Flint
2004 – Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, Grand Rapids
2005 – Barbara Redding, Capac
2006 – Melanie Miller, Lansing
2007 – Jan Sander, Warren Woods
2008 – Jane Bos, Grand Rapids
2009 – Gail Ganakas, Flint; Deb VanKuiken, Holly
2010 – Gina Mazzolini, Lansing
2011 – Ellen Pugh, West Branch; Patti Tibaldi, Traverse City
2012 – Janet Gillette, Comstock Park
PHOTO: Barbara Beckett stands between Todd Geerlings (left) and Donald Gustafson moments before becoming the first woman to officiate an MHSAA Boys Basketball Final in 1995.