Michigan Schools to Designate February for Statewide ‘Oxford Strong’ Support
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 20, 2021
Schools across Michigan will be dedicating February to “Oxford Strong” in support of Oxford Community Schools as the district continues to mourn the deaths of four students during a shooting at the high school Nov. 30.
The Oakland Activities Association – of which Oxford is a member – as well as the Kensington Lakes Activities Association and Detroit Catholic High School League, with merchandise vendor E.A. Graphics, have been primary organizers of this effort.
E.A. Graphics, based in Sterling Heights, will be printing T-shirts and sweatshirts supporting “Oxford Strong” – with schools able to purchase those items and then provide them in their communities. E.A. Graphics will be donating the price of the apparel, after costs, directly to Oxford High School and its community. T-shirts, for example, cost $20, with $16.20 being donated from each sale.
Schools taking part may ask their spectators to then wear the apparel as part of an “Oxford Strong” sporting event at their schools during February. Organizers have designated Friday, Feb. 4, as a day for as many schools as possible to be “Oxford Strong” and contribute to a statewide outpouring of support for the Wildcats and their community. However, it’s expected many schools will sponsor “Oxford Strong” events throughout the month.
“Every day since Nov. 30, schools have asked us what they can do, how can they help,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “While there is no way to take away the pain from such a tragedy, our statewide community will be glad to provide any comfort possible to Oxford schools and their community at this time of such great sorrow.”
E.A. Graphics is the merchandising partner of the Michigan High School Athletic Association and the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA), the professional group for athletic directors and other school sports administrators in Michigan.
NFHS Introduces Updated Logo
July 17, 2019
Special from NFHS
As the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) heads into the next 100 years of leading high school sports and other activity programs nationwide, it will be doing so with a new logo.
The new logo was unveiled to the membership earlier this month at the close of the NFHS Centennial Celebration. The NFHS and its 51-member state high school associations celebrated the organization’s accomplishments at the 100th Annual Meeting at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.
The organization will continue to be branded as the NFHS in the new logo, and the N and F are connected as has been the case since 1979. However, the entire acronym is together on one line as opposed to the previous logo with the NF and HS on separate lines. While red and blue will continue to be the predominant colors, the new logo mixes white with red and blue to suggest a flag waving in the wind. The direction of the flag is pointing upward to symbolize forward-thinking and advancement.
The new design maintains a resemblance to the shield that has been a part of the NFHS logo since 1997. However, the logo is flared at the top, and the bottom of the logo does not have definitive borders, which suggests the organization has moved past its first 100 years and is expanding its reach as the national leadership organization for high school sports and performing arts programs in the United States.
While the organization’s logo from 1952 had four stars to signify the four charter members of the NFHS, the four stripes within the new logo represent the four homes of the organization during the first 100 years.
“We wanted to retain NFHS as the central component of the new logo because the organization’s national presence has continued to spiral upward in the 22 years since the NFHS acronym was adopted,” said Dr. Karissa Niehoff, NFHS executive director. “However, as we celebrated our first 100 years, we felt it was important to establish a new look that would signify our ever-increasing role as the national leader in high school sports and performing arts programs.”
Counting the Centennial logo that was used during the 2018-19 school year, the new logo will be 10th used by the organization since the first one was adopted in the 1930s. The new logo was created by Section 127, an Indianapolis-based design company.
The NFHS was started in 1920 and had offices in Chicago until 1971, when it moved to Elgin, Illinois. The organization moved to Kansas City, Missouri, in 1979, and then in 2000 to Indianapolis, where it remains today.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association is a member of the NFHS, and Michigan is one of the four founding states of the national association.