Troy Athens' Winning Work Promotes Importance of Becoming MI HEARTSafe
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
July 22, 2022
Troy Athens, and more specifically its girls soccer team, has been selected as this year’s winner of the MI HEARTSafe School Video Contest promoting the importance of Michigan schools becoming an MI HEARTSafe school.
The Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation partners with the MHSAA to promote cardiac awareness – and Athens’ student-produced video (above) earned the school $5,000.
Michigan has lost at least 81 students to sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) and related causes since 1999, according to data compiled by the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation. Randy and Sue Gillary lost their daughter Kimberly to a cardiac arrest in a high school water polo game in April of 2000. Randy and Sue Gillary founded the Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) charitable foundation within days of losing Kimberly. The mission of the Foundation is to donate automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to Michigan high schools and to advocate cardiac screening and testing of Michigan high school student athletes.
A major drive of the foundation is for every Michigan school to become an MI-HEARTSafe School. This is a designation given by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHSS) when a school has met the criteria to demonstrate it is prepared to respond to a cardiac emergency on school property. Schools receive a banner and other materials that can be displayed in the school to let those who attend and visit know that the school is an MI-HEARTSafe School.
Sportsmanship Summits To Address Topics Affecting Athletes On & Off Playing Field
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 7, 2025
The MHSAA's annual Sportsmanship Summit series will return this November with four stops across the Lower Peninsula, providing training on sportsmanship topics affecting students both on and off the field of play.
The MHSAA has conducted Sportsmanship Summits across Michigan for more than 20 years. This year’s series kicks off Nov. 3 in Lansing and finishes Nov. 12 in Kalamazoo.
MHSAA staff, with assistance from school administrators and the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, conduct Sportsmanship Summits. Up to 800 students are expected to take part in the four workshops, where they will discuss the line that separates good from bad sportsmanship, both as athletes during competition and while participating in off-field activities including as spectators at sporting events.
Workshop sessions will include discussions and hands-on activities on topics including working with game officials, building appropriate student cheering sections, social media behavior and parent conduct at school sports events. Summits also will feature a session developed and instructed by members of the Student Advisory Council. At the end of the day the delegation from each participating school will meet to develop a school sportsmanship campaign.
Sessions will take place at the following:
• Lansing – Nov. 3 – Crowne Plaza Lansing West – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Troy – Nov. 5 – MSU Management Education Center – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Traverse City – Nov. 10 – Grand Traverse Resort – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Kalamazoo – Nov. 12 – Radisson Plaza Hotel – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
The Sportsmanship Summit schedule rotates locations every year. In 2024, MHSAA staff conducted summits in Grand Rapids, Marquette, Saginaw and Ann Arbor.
Registration at each site is limited to the first 200 students and administrators. Schools are welcome to bring as many as 10 total representatives, including two administrators. For additional registration information, contact Andy Frushour at the MHSAA office – [email protected] or (517) 332-5046. Registration information also is available on the Sportsmanship Resources page.