Student athlete awards coming soon

We at the Frontiersman pride ourselves on our commitment to community journalism. We cover the Valley for the Valley, providing our readers with information that impacts our area. We aim to tell the stories of our Valley residents, and share news that may not be available at any other source. That focus has included an emphasis on the coverage of local sports, particularly at the high school level.

Several years ago, Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz created the Frontiersman Student-Athlete of the Year Award. The idea was to recognize the epitome of the student-athlete, a person who excels not only in sports, but also in the classroom. It began simply as a feature story within our paper, but the original vision was to make it much more than that. The long-term goal was to establish a scholarship to link to the honor, and create a tradition our community can take pride in. Thanks to the support of businesses within the community, winners of the 2015 Frontiersman Student-Athlete of the Year awards will receive a $1,000 scholarship to help them with their post-secondary education, and the winners, and finalists, will be recognized at the first Frontiersman Student-Athlete of the Year scholarship banquet, slated for May 7 at Evangelo’s in Wasilla.

We are proud to announce the finalists for the 2015 award: Colony High School’s Harrison Menard and Sarah Brumbaugh; Palmer High School’s Ben Button and Mariah McNamara; and Wasilla High School’s Blake Marks and Cassidy Edwards.

One female and one male athlete from that group will earn the award and scholarship May 7.

Administrators from local high schools nominated student-athletes who met a certain criteria, which included a minimum grade point average of 3.3 and participation in at least one varsity sport. Additional consideration is also given to student-athletes who participate in multiple sports, and to those involved with academic clubs and community groups. We want our recognition to include more than just the conquests on the court, or fun on the field. We want to shine our spotlight on our local student-athletes who take as much interest in academics as athletics.

Since its inception several years ago, we’ve received nominees with tremendous resumes. State champions, valedictorians, students just as eager to tackle advanced placement courses as they would be to face opponents in sports.

We have another excellent group of finalists for the 2015 awards. We congratulate each for all of their outstanding work. Those interested in attending the awards dinner can reserve tickets by calling 352-2251.