04/18/16 – KHSAA and Midway University Partner To Create Female Student-Athlete of the Year Program

April 18, 2016 2015-2016 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 18, 2016

The KHSAA is proud to announce Midway University as its first corporate partner to join the Association’s newly created Girls’ Sports Initiative, which aims to showcase and promote girls’ sports in Kentucky. As part of this new venture, one of the first collaborative corporate partnerships of its kind in the country to specifically target girls’ sports, Midway University will establish a Female Student-Athlete of the Year award in each female sport and sport-activity sanctioned by the KHSAA.

“We are blessed here in the Commonwealth with so many examples of great performances by not only some of the most athletic girls in the country, but a group that represents that wonderful combination of great students, exceptional student-athletes and active servant leaders in our communities,” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “This program will allow many of our great partners, starting with Midway University, to showcase this stellar group of student-athletes and allow the entire state to recognize and celebrate their participation.”

Midway University will present a Female Student-Athlete of the Year award at each of the KHSAA’s 14 girls’ state championship events, with the award based upon overall athletic performance (60%), academic achievement (20%) and community service (20%). Students must possess an overall grade point average of 3.0 or better to qualify, and must be academically eligible during the season in which they are nominated. The program will begin with the KHSAA Tennis, Bass Fishing and Track & Field State Championships in May.

“We are excited about this partnership with KHSAA. The idea of promoting female athletics and individual athletes and their accomplishments is important to us and fits with the historical mission of the institution,” said Dr. John P. Marsden, President, Midway University. “Athletics is a huge part of our Women’s College program and working with KHSAA to elevate women’s athletics across the state is important.”

The yearlong campaign will run through the 2017 KHSAA State Archery Championships and will culminate with an awards banquet next May, where the overall Midway University/KHSAA Female Student-Athlete of the Year will be recognized. School administrators, coaches and athletic directors will be able to nominate student-athletes online at KHSAA.org. Nominees will be voted upon by a closed panel consisting of representatives from Midway University, media members, and high school coaches, student-athletes and administrators.

Midway University was founded in 1847 as the Kentucky Female Orphan School. Today, Midway University continues to shape the lives of students in Kentucky’s only college for women and in coeducational undergraduate and graduate programs through a student-centered, global education that leads to rewarding careers and responsible citizenship. For more information on Midway University, visit www.midway.edu.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 277 member schools both public and private. The KHSAA sanctions 43 state championships in 13 sports and 4 sport-activities, licenses and trains over 4,000 officials, provides catastrophic insurance for its more than 70,000 member school student-athletes, as well as overseeing coaching education and sports safety programs.