Stoney Creek Leaders Speak Up to Save Lives
May 26, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The crowd for Rochester Hills Stoney Creek’s boys basketball game against rival Rochester was as rowdy as could be hoped for most of the evening Feb. 28.
But it fell silent during halftime as Stoney Creek juniors Nate Davis, Kevin Price and Isabella Ubaydi spoke of how suicide had affected them and their community.
A student had committed suicide every year during their high school careers – including Price’s brother just six months before.
All three are members of the school’s Cougar Athletic Leadership Council, which put on the Suicide Prevention Awareness basketball game not only to raise money for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, but also to start the conversation on a sensitive topic that has hit home.
“We wanted to get the word out that it’s OK to talk about these issues – help the topic get out of the dark,” Ubaydi said.
“It was insane. It was awesome. There were so many people. Our student section area where we all sit was filled up to the top row. There were a lot of people from the community who didn’t go to Stoney Creek, or have alumni (associated with the school) or anything like that. But they were at Stoney Creek, and it was great to show people actually care in our community.”
The leadership council is a club made up of Stoney Creek athletes who coordinate special events, including for athletics, with an eye especially on helping the community’s youth, elderly and those with disabilities. Ubaydi, Price and Davis are co-chairs of the CALC’s special events committee.
The tragic circumstances of the last three years led the group to bring suicide prevention to the forefront. While Ubaydi spoke mostly about why the event was held and how donations would be spent, Price and Davis (Price’s best friend) talked about how suicide had affected them personally. “You could hear a pin drop,” Ubaydi said. “After we were done, (the crowd) gave a standing ovation.”
CALC raised nearly $3,500 selling T-shirts that also included free student admission to the game. After Ubaydi, Price and Davis spoke, buckets were passed through the crowd during a “miracle minute” and filled with another $1,200.
All profits from the night, including $500 from concessions, were donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Ubaydi said the $1,000 from the Community Service Award also will be sent to AFSP.
She’s since heard stories from teachers of classmates coming forward to express worries about people in their lives, a sign awareness is paying off. At the same time, Ubaydi and her co-chairs are just as concerned about people who didn’t attend the Suicide Prevention Awareness game and might be experiencing troubles in their lives – but the hope is the event spoke loudly enough to be heard by anyone who needs help.
All three leaders are juniors beginning to contemplate their futures after high school; Ubaydi is leaning toward Roanoke College in Virginia to study political science and minor in theology, while Price is considering Michigan State to study environmental science and Davis is looking at options for pre-law or political science. They hope to host the suicide prevention event again as seniors before they graduate, with future CALC students then carrying on the mission.
“Suicide is an uncomfortable topic to talk about. Since people saw us relating to how it has affected us personally, the community will become comfortable discussing mental illnesses together,” Ubaydi wrote in CALC’s award application.
“I wanted to have this event so people understand that the influence that one person can make may be life-changing. This then causes them to be there for others, see the signs quicker, and save more lives.”
PHOTO: (Top) Cougar Athletic Leadership Council leaders Kevin Price, Isabella Ubaydi and Nate Davis show their shirts from the school’s Suicide Prevention Awareness night. VIDEOS: (Top) State Champs! Network covered the event and interviewed its organizers. (Below) Davis, Ubaydi and Price speak during halftime, also filmed by State Champs! Network.
2017 Community Service Awards
Sunday: Colon "Yard Squad" - Read
Monday: Bailey Brown, Brighton - Read
Tuesday: Justice Ottinger, Newaygo - Read
Thursday: Katie Sesi, Ann Arbor Huron - Read
Friday: Nikki Sorgi, Utica Ford - Read
Friday: Cougar Athletic Leadership Council, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek - Read
2018 Scholar-Athlete Finalists Announced
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
January 19, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The 120 finalists for the Michigan High School Athletic Association's Scholar-Athlete Awards for the 2017-18 school year, presented by Farm Bureau Insurance, have been announced.
The program, in its 29th year, has recognized student-athletes since the 1989-90 school year and again this winter will honor 32 individuals from MHSAA member schools who participate in at least one sport in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament.
Farm Bureau Insurance underwrites the Scholar-Athlete Awards and will present a $1,000 scholarship to each recipient. Since the beginning of the program, 736 scholarships have been awarded.
Scholarships will be presented proportionately by school classification, with 12 scholarships to be awarded to Class A student-athletes, six female and six male; eight scholarships will be awarded to Class B student-athletes, four female and four male; six scholarships will be awarded to Class C student-athletes, three female and three male; and four scholarships will be awarded to Class D student-athletes, two female and two male. In addition, two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size.
Every MHSAA member high school could submit as many applications as there are scholarships available in its classification, and could have more than one finalist. Saline has four finalists this year, while Negaunee, Rochester and Saginaw Swan Valley each have three. Seventeen schools each have two finalists: Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Chelsea, East Grand Rapids, Ferndale, Grand Rapids Christian, Harbor Springs, Kingsford, Ludington, Marshall, Northville, Okemos, Paw Paw, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep, Saranac, Sault Ste. Marie and Troy.
Multiple-sport participation remains the norm among applicants. The average sport participation rate of the finalists is 2.63, while the average of the application pool was 2.20. There are 65 three-plus sport participants in the finalists field, and all but two of the 28 sports in which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments are represented.
Of 396 schools which submitted applicants, 39 submitted the maximum allowed. This year, 1,422 applications were received. All applicants will be presented with certificates commemorating their achievement. Additional Scholar-Athlete information, including a complete list of scholarship nominees, can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The applications were judged by a 64-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members from MHSAA member schools. Selection of the 32 scholarship recipients will take place in early February. Class C and D scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 6, Class B scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 13 and Class A scholarship recipients will be announced Feb. 20. All announcements will be made on the MHSAA Website.
To honor the 32 Scholar-Athlete Award recipients, a ceremony will take place during halftime of the Class C Boys Basketball Final, March 24, at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
To be eligible for the award, students must have a cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 (on a 4.0 scale) and previously have won a varsity letter in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. Students also were asked to respond to a series of short essay questions, submit two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
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.
2017-18 Scholar-Athlete Award Finalists
BOYS CLASS A
Kobie Mueller, Ann Arbor Huron
Adam Good, Auburn Hills Avondale
Jacob Willemsen, Byron Center
William Marano, Dearborn Edsel Ford
Anthony Joseph, DeWitt
Ben Forstner, East Grand Rapids
Anthony Kim, Grand Blanc
Nicholas Weigle, Grandville
Yzrael Silguero, Holland
Danny deForest, Holland West Ottawa
Joseph Corner, Holt
Luke Rambo, Marquette
Aditya Middha, Midland Dow
Paul Cheng McKinley, Okemos
David Paquette, Petoskey
Michael Robert Melaragni, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek
Cole Johnson, Rockford
Anthony G. DeKraker, Saline
Aidan Delfuoco, Saline
Reagan Miller, Saline
Emmett Turner, Saline
Hunter Gandee, Temperance Bedford
Nathan Frazier, Warren Cousino
Nick Seidel, West Bloomfield
GIRLS CLASS A
Maggie Wood, Battle Creek Lakeview
Emily Rooney, Birmingham Seaholm
Susannah Deems, East Grand Rapids
Kelly Ann Giles, East Kentwood
Olivia Perkins, Farmington Hills Harrison
Maria Poortenga, Grand Rapids Christian
Sarah Van Dyke, Grand Rapids Christian
Breanna Probst, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central
Lauren Sickmiller, Grosse Pointe North
Samantha Hild, Holly
Talia Naomi Edmonds, Kalamazoo Central
Tess Scheidel, Middleville Thornapple Kellogg
Grace VanArendonk, Muskegon Mona Shores
Kendall Dillon, Northville
Roan Haines, Northville
Anushka Murthy, Okemos
Hallie C. Roman, Port Huron Northern
Kendall Jordan, Rochester
Karlyn Kelley, Rochester
Jenna Norgrove, Rochester
Anna Fischer, St. Joseph
Meghan Monaghan, Troy
Megan Worrel, Troy
Julie Smith, Walled Lake Northern
BOYS CLASS B
Jackson Lund, Big Rapids
Lucas Misra, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Patrick J. Bertoni, Chelsea
Justin A. Lyle, Dowagiac
Jacob Keener, Ferndale
John Stellard, Ferndale
Vincent Goyette, Flint Powers Catholic
Anthony Harris, Frankenmuth
David Ameriguian, Grosse Ile
Sawyer Perpich, Kingsford
Caleb Schoon, Ludington
William Rayner, Marshall
Thomas Otten, Paw Paw
Anthony Reo, Paw Paw
Hunter Goldensoph, Saginaw Swan Valley
Troy Joseph Distelrath, St. Clair
GIRLS CLASS B
Kate Cao, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Caroline Hirth, Chelsea
Hannah Shorkey, Essexville Garber
Katelyn Brown, Jonesville
Jordyn Kriegl, Kingsford
Mackenzie Luce, Ludington
Mackenzie Horn, Marshall
Grace VerHage, Otsego
Celia C. Gaynor, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Lauren Neiheisel, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
Megan Brooks, Saginaw Swan Valley
Emily Buska, Saginaw Swan Valley
Valeta A. Gage, Sault Ste. Marie
Mackenzie M. Kalchik, Sault Ste. Marie
Izabella Marie Taylor, Three Rivers
MacKenzie Desloover, Yale
BOYS CLASS C
Jack Avery Harris, Ann Arbor Greenhills
Parker Hayes, Beaverton
Matthew Harazin, Bridgman
Ilhan Onder, Calumet
Joseph R. Claramunt, Harbor Springs
Thomas Kelbel, Harbor Springs
Evans Brown, Kalamazoo Hackett
Eric Vandefifer, Montrose
Luke Skewis, Negaunee
Colton Yesney, Negaunee
Ben Hogan, North Muskegon
Bryant Kieft, Watervliet
GIRLS CLASS C
Shelby Trevino, Beal City
Kendall Gassman, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart
Kelleigh Keating, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart
Ellen Charlotte Laurenz, Breckenridge
Rachel Nesburg, Charlevoix
Morgan Hartline, Marcellus
Clara Johnson, Negaunee
Emily Spitzley, Pewamo-Westphalia
Halie Robinson, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic
Kendahl Grace Overbeck, Saranac
Emma Pachulski, Saranac
Melody Antel, Saugatuck
BOYS CLASS D
Nicholas Burlingame, Ashley
Brendan Delaney, Gaylord St. Mary
Peter Kalthoff, Hillsdale Academy
Andrew Pechette, Kinde-North Huron
Andrew Hager, Mio
Jeremiah Torrey, Onekama
Aaron Jacob Fahrner, Owendale-Gagetown
Thomas Hursey, Suttons Bay
GIRLS CLASS D
Katelyn Smith, Akron-Fairgrove
Corra Hamilton, Athens
Madison Kadlec, Bellaire
Ciera Weber, Fowler
Laura Lyons, Lake Linden-Hubbell
Stephanie Schuman, Lawrence
Ellie Haan, McBain Northern Michigan Christian
Sophie Ruggles, Mt. Pleasant Sacred Heart