22 out of 26 individual fall sports teams received MSHSAA’s outstanding or distinguished scholastic award. The outstanding award is for teams that had an average GPA of 3.25 to a 4.0, and the distinguished award is for teams averaging 3.0 to a 3.24 GPA.

“MSHSAA, our governing body, will issue a commemorative certificate and we’ll give that to the coach,” Activities Director Scott Harris said. “Also, we’ll display a team photo along with their award in our hallway under the scholastic achievement awards.”

FHC ranks high among the top schools in the state for this achievement according to Mr. Harris.

“MSHSAA publishes it every spring in their journals, and we’re always one of the highest in the state,” Mr. Harris said. “We’re looking at 85 percent of our teams receiving them, and 95 percent of our programs are receiving them.”

Mr. Harris believes these awards show how dedicated students are to the school, both athletically and scholastically.

“It is very exciting on my end, my job as activities director, I’m always trying to increase attachment to our school,” said Mr. Harris. “We’re always trying to get them involved, as studies show, and this [award] shows, if you are involved in a sport, club or activity, you’re going to achieve higher. Some people might think, ‘Oh, more time commitment, practices, games, meetings, contests, I won’t have time for homework.’ This shows the exact opposite. The discipline, the commitment, the work ethic it takes to be involved in a sport, club or activity carries over into the classroom, as evidence by the amount of awards we received.”

Cross country coach Michelle Breuer reflects on this award, because four of the top five teams in the outstanding category were cross country teams.

“Running itself is a crazy sports, as it takes a lot of discipline,” coach Breuer said. “The high achieving kid has a lot of discipline, and maybe there is a relation there. I don’t expect any less from them, it’s commonplace now.”

Mrs. Breuer believes running is the best sport to allow you to think, which could be a reason for cross country’s success in school.

“That little distance from school gives you time to think, running is the best sport for that,” said coach Breuer. “It allows you time to think and regroup. It just works.”

Coach Breuer allows students to skip practice if they need help with schoolwork, which may be the reason that so many of the cross country teams get such high GPA.

“I don’t know what other sports do, but if they have to take a test or they need to get help, I let them do that,” coach Breuer said. “Education comes before sports.”

Having 10 of the 11 programs offered in the fall get a scholastic award is a pretty neat deal. Mr. Harris was happy to hear how well the student athletes did on and off of the field.

“I’m just very proud; proud of our coaches, proud of our student,” Mr. Harris said. “Just the commitment and work ethic to commit to being students first. It makes me proud to be our AD and makes me proud to work with the great group of coaches we have and the great students we have here at Howell Central.”