MI Student Aid to Present MHSAA Media
September 1, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Just as the Michigan High School Athletic Association hopes students will pursue the many benefits of taking part in educational athletics, MI Student Aid – a division of the Michigan Department of Treasury – encourages students to pursue postsecondary educational opportunities by providing financial assistance toward attaining that goal.
Sharing in the desire to make Michigan students aware of all possibilities available, MI Student Aid has signed on to work with the MHSAA to present the opportunities provided by both to a statewide audience via the MHSAA’s radio, video, social media and online initiatives.
MI Student Aid – a part of the Student Financial Services Bureau located within the Department of Treasury – encourages students to pursue postsecondary education by providing access to student financial resources and information, including various student financial assistance programs to help make college more affordable for Michigan students. MI Student Aid administers the state’s 529 savings programs (MET/MESP) and eight additional aid programs within its Student Scholarships and Grants division.
Among MHSAA broadcast ventures that will be presented by MI Student Aid during the 2016-17 school year are the five-minute “This Week in High School Sports” program that airs on more than 80 radio stations statewide, and the weekly video highlights from Michigan programming produced for the NFHS Network, dispersed to statewide media and published online on the MHSAA Website.
“We value the life lessons learned on the athletic field, and MI Student Aid promotes continuing education for our student-athletes by providing financial assistance in pursuing those opportunities,” said John E. “Jack” Roberts, Executive Director of the MHSAA. “We are always seeking to make students and their families aware of all that can be gleaned from educational athletics, and we’re glad to provide an avenue for MI Student Aid to promote the options available to help in financing the continuation of their studies.”
In addition to radio and video contributions, MI Student Aid will have an on-site presence at MHSAA championship events throughout this school year and serve as the presenting sponsor of weekly football and boys and girls basketball statewide reports on Second Half.
MI Student Aid also will have an opportunity to connect with students and their families through a presence on the MHSAA’s social media platforms.
“We are extremely excited to be partnered with Michigan High School Athletic Association,” said Anne Wohlfert, Director of the Student Financial Services Bureau. “Students and families oftentimes encounter barriers when paying for college, and MHSAA provides a platform that allows our resources and services to be transparent, directly to the audience we are trying to reach. Our mission and values closely align with that of MHSAA, which made this partnership an easy decision. We are looking forward to a long-lasting, successful partnership with them.”
Click for information on MI Student Aid and connect with MI Student Aid via social media on Facebook and Twitter @mistudentaid.
MHSAA's Roberts Elected to NFHS Board
July 12, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts has been elected to serve a four-year term on the Board of Directors for the National Federation of State High School Associations, the national governing body for high school athletics and activities.
Roberts has served as executive director since 1986 and is the longest-tenured active state association executive director among NFHS members. The MHSAA is one of the nation’s largest state associations with more than 1,400 high schools and junior high/middle schools. The NFHS, in its press release on new officers and board members, called Roberts "one of the nation’s most articulate advocates for education-based activity programs."
After graduating from P. J. Jacobs High School in Stevens Point, Wis., and Dartmouth College and attending graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, Roberts taught English and coached football at high schools in Milwaukee and Denver until 1973, when he joined the staff of the NFHS, which at that time was located in Elgin, Illinois.
From 1973 to 1980, Roberts developed the NFHS’ volleyball, swimming & diving and ice hockey rules programs, and re-codified the Soccer Rules Book. Later, as assistant director, he was in charge of public, legislative and judicial affairs for the NFHS.
Roberts joined the staff of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) in 1981 and was named executive vice president of the FCA in 1984. He served in that capacity until 1986, when he was named executive director of the MHSAA.
Roberts served a previous term on the NFHS Board of Directors from 1996 to 2000 and has been chairman of the NFHS Network Board of Directors since 2013. He also has served on two previous NFHS Strategic Planning Committees and is past chair of the board of directors of the Michigan Society of Association Executives.
PHOTO: MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts congratulates an MHSAA/Farm Bureau Scholar-Athlete Award winner at the Breslin Center.