STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association salutes the 27 schools that met the criteria to be named recipients of the Award of Excellence in 2018-19.
The award recognizes member schools for their efforts and achievements in the areas of sportsmanship, ethics, integrity, leadership and character.
The recipients of the Award of Excellence, presented to high schools that met each of the award’s criteria, are:
Baraboo
Brookwood
Cambridge
Fort Atkinson
Germantown
Hudson
Kenosha St. Joseph Catholic
Kettle Moraine
Kimberly
Menomonie
Mercer
Middleton
Muskego
Necedah
Northland Pines
Northwestern
Racine Horlick
Racine Lutheran
St. Croix Central
Stoughton
Stratford
The Prairie School
Union Grove
University School of Milwaukee
Watertown
Wausau West
Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln
Five of the 27 schools are receiving the honor for the third time, including Baraboo, Hudson, Racine Horlick, Stoughton and Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln. Ten of this year’s recipients are being presented with the award for the second time, including Brookwood, Cambridge, Fort Atkinson, Kimberly, Middleton, Northwestern, Racine Lutheran, The Prairie School, University School of Milwaukee and Watertown.
Recipients will be presented the Award of Excellence at the fall Area Meetings and will be recognized for the achievement on the WIAA website, in the WIAA Bulletin and at the Annual Meeting.
The criteria applied toward the Award of Excellence include:
* Athletic director conducted regular occurring meetings with a Captain’s Club/Team Leadership Council/Etc. – sportsmanship, ethics and/or integrity is on the agenda and is discussed
* Athletic director conducted regular occurring meetings with coaches - sportsmanship, ethics and/or integrity is a topic that is on the agenda and is discussed
* Athletic director conducted at least one informational meeting with student-athletes and their parents – sportsmanship, ethics and/or integrity is a topic that is on the agenda and is discussed
* Athletic director attended conference meetings–sportsmanship, ethics and/or integrity is a topic that is on the agenda and is discussed
* Coaches and student-athletes attended a sportsmanship summit/leadership conference/etc.
* There was school representation at one of the seven WIAA Fall Area Meetings
* There was school representation at WIAA Annual Meeting in April
* Athletic Director made the student body aware of sportsmanship initiatives through school assemblies, announcements, posters, etc.
* Three or more athletic teams gave back to their school or community through volunteerism
* Athletic director has taken the free NFHS Sportsmanship course
* Three or more head coaches have taken the free NFHS Sportsmanship course
* Athletic program had no coach ejections at any level
* Athletic program had no coach or player assault of an official at any level
* Athletic director nominated/submitted a boy and/or a girl for WIAA Scholar Athlete recognition (either for local or state level recognition)
For 2019-20, two new elements of the criteria will be added to qualify for the award. The two additional criteria will be:
* Athletic Director maintains and updates all information in the WIAA School Directory annually.
* Athletic Director does due diligence in striving to achieve staff compliance with all WIAA coaching requirements (i.e. rules video, exam, officials’ rankings)
The membership of the WIAA oversees interscholastic athletic programs for 511 senior high schools and 43 junior high/middle level schools in its membership. It will sponsor 27 championship tournament series in 2019-20. For more information, please contact the WIAA office at (715) 344-8580.
# WIAA #