Mass Student Athlete Day

Every year, Sport in Society and the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association hold Massachusetts Student Athlete Day, an event that honors high school student-athletes that have displayed excellence athletically, academically, and in the community. For the past couple of months, I have been helping plan this year's event. Today was the big day, and I am happy to say that the event was a tremendous success, thanks to the excellent speakers, the bright students (particularly those that served as panelists), the hard-working volunteers, and last but not least the Master of Ceremonies, Chris Lynch. There will be an article on the Sport in Society website regarding the event shortly, but first I will give you an exclusive, extended version of the day right here. Enjoy!

On Tuesday, April 12, Sport in Society along with the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association hosted the Massachusetts Student Athlete Citizenship Awards to recognize high school students who have displayed excellence athletically, academically, and in the community.

124 athletes were presented with awards at the event, which took place in the Curry Student Center Ballroom at Northeastern University. In addition to receiving awards, the students heard from General Brigadier Sellars, Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, and Sport in Society Executive Director Dan Lebowitz.

General Brigadier Sellars was the first speaker, and he spoke of the importance of standing up to do the right thing. After his speech, four of the award winners participated in a panel discussing how athletes can better use their power as role models.

The next speaker was David Sullivan, and he told the story of an American Legion team from 1934 that passed up the opportunity to win a national championship because the one black player on their team was not allowed to compete. Sullivan used this story to stress how doing the right thing is more important than doing what’s cool or popular.

After Sullivan spoke, a second panel had a discussion on playing hard while maintaining good sportsmanship, among other issues. It should be noted that the Master of Ceremonies, Chris Lynch, who is the Director of the Boston Youth Sports Initiative did an excellent job narrating both panels.

After the second panel, Dan Lebowitz gave a rousing speech on a variety of topics, including the importance to represent oneself with pride, and how youth are the ones that have the power to make significant change in the world.