Leadership Summit, Olympics Provide Students Opportunities for Success
Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS Chief Executive Officer
@KarissaNFHS
Involvement in high school sports and performing arts programs in our nation’s schools provide students many opportunities for future success, and two examples are front and center this week – one in Indianapolis and another 4,100 miles away in Paris, France.
In Indianapolis, more than 250 high school sports and activities participants and more than 100 college and adult ambassadors are participating in the National Student Leadership Summit (NSLS) sponsored by the NFHS.
For more than 20 years, the NFHS has realized the importance of helping participants in high school activity programs develop important leadership skills to become successful in their future careers – and the response this year resulted in the largest attendance since 2010.
With the assistance of the 16-member NFHS National Student Advisory Council, the three-day conference which concludes tomorrow, has allowed high school student leaders to interact with each other and hear key messages from experts in mental health, healthy relationships, communication, social media responsibility and leadership.
Heading the list of expert speakers are three from previous conferences: Omari Pearson, a former high school, college and professional athlete and founder of Passion to Purpose, LLC; Leslie Barnes, associate director of athletics for student-athlete development at Duke University; and Deb Hult, co-founder of Core Trainings and a nationally recognized presenter on relational and motivational leadership.
While only a few of the 250-plus students attending the National Student Leadership Summit will probably pursue sports after high school, a very high percentage will utilize the skills, knowledge and values learned through education-based activity programs, as well as conferences like the NSLS, to become the next leaders of our nation in a variety of successful careers.
Meanwhile, a number of former (and a few current) high school athletes will have the opportunity for success on another stage at the 33rd Summer Olympics in Paris. The United States will be trying to repeat its dominating performance in Tokyo, and there are a number of former high school athletes who are a part of the 600-member U.S. team.
While the women’s basketball team is a collection of the brightest WNBA stars, many of the 12 team members first led their high school teams to gold medals.
Chelsea Gray was California Miss Basketball and helped her St. Mary’s High School (Stockton, California) team to a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Class 6A state title. Three other team members were California high school standouts – Kelsey Plum won a CIF state title at La Jolla Country Day School, Diana Taurasi was National Player of the Year at Don Lugo High School in Chino, and Sabrina Ionescu was National Player of the Year at Miramonte High School in Orinda.
Jackie Young was named Miss Basketball in Indiana and became the leading scorer in state history at Princeton High School. Breanna Stewart led Cicero-North Syracuse High School in New York to two Class AA state titles, and Alyssa Thomas helped Central Dauphin High School in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class 4A state title as a sophomore.
High school sports played an important role in the success of a number of members of the track and field, and swimming teams as well.
Among many former high school standouts, the women’s track team includes Kendall Ellis, a seven-time individual champion in Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) track competition from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale; Aaliyah Butler, three-time Florida state champion in the 400 meters from Miami Northwestern High School; Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the world record-holder in the 400 hurdles who was a two-time Gatorade Athlete of the Year in track and field at Union Catholic Regional High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey; Valarie Allman, the defending Olympic gold medalist in the discus who won two Colorado 4A state championships in the discus at Silver Creek High School in Longmont, Colorado; and Elise Cranny, who will compete in the 5,000 meters in Paris after winning the Colorado 4A girls cross country title two times, and the 800, 1600 and 3200 in both her junior and senior seasons at Niwot (Colorado) High School.
The most inspiring story among women’s track team members belongs to Melissa Jefferson, who won the 100-meter dash at the South Carolina High School League state meet as a senior at Carvers Bay High School in Hemingway. In 2018, Jefferson donated her blood marrow to her father to save his life after he was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic Syndrome.
Ryan Crouser, a two-time Olympic champion in the shot put who excelled at Sam Barlow High School in Gresham, Oregon, is one of several men’s track team members who starred for their high school teams, including Jeremiah Davis, who won Florida state titles in the long jump and triple jump in 2019 at Lehigh Senior High School.
Participation on high school swimming teams was also a route to the Olympics for several athletes. With the trials staged at the unique setting in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, a local brother-sister duo stole the show. Alex Shackell and her brother, Aaron Shackell, who helped Carmel High School extend their dominance in high school swimming this past year, both qualified for the Paris Games.
Other high school standouts who made the team include Gretchen Walsh, who set the national high school 50 and 100 freestyle records while competing at Harpeth Hall High School in Nashville, Tennessee; Abbey Weitzell of Saugus (California) High School, who previously held the national high school 100 freestyle record; and Torri Huske of Yorktown (Virginia) High School, who previously held the national high school 100 butterfly record.
Whether as a future educator, community leader, business professional or on the victory stand at the Olympics, high school sports and other activity programs provide multiple avenues of success for students in our nation’s schools.