McCormick named MHSAA scholarship winner.

Travis McCromick

Mason County Eastern High School senior Travis McCormick is among 10 class C and class D student-athletes selected by the Michigan High School Athletic Association to receive scholarships through its Scholar-Athlete Award program. 

Farm Bureau Insurance, in its 26th year of sponsoring the award, will give $1,000 college scholarships to 32 individuals who represent their member schools in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament. The first 30 scholarships are awarded proportionately by school classification and the number of student-athletes involved in those classes; also, there are two at-large honorees which can come from any classification.

Each of the scholarship recipients will be honored at halftime ceremonies of the Class C Boys Basketball Final game March 28 at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing. Commemorative medallions will be given to the finalists in recognition of their accomplishments.

Travis, the son of Gail and J.W. McCormick of Fountain, expects to graduate with 11 varsity letters earned over four sports: four for baseball, one for basketball, three for soccer and two for cross country. He earned all-conference recognition his first three seasons of baseball and in soccer as a junior; and also earned second-team all-area honors in basketball last season.

Travis has served four years on MCE’s student council including as secretary, three years on his school’s Youth Advisory Council including as treasurer and three years with his school’s chapter of National Honor Society including as vice president. He received a Good Citizen Award from the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and participated in church mission trips to Georgia and New York. He also volunteers at his vacation Bible school. Travis remains undecided on where he will attend college, but intends to study business.

In an essay entry for the scholarship award, he wrote: “Sportsmanship is treating the players, coaches, refs and fans around you with respect. Being gracious when you win or lose. The game isn’t about going there to physically and mentally destroy a player; it’s to have fun and enjoy the moment. You want to be that person or that team that people remember as good sportsmen.”

The Class C Scholar-Athlete Award honorees are: Maggie Belcher, Springport; Ryan Karapas, Clinton; Mallory Munderloh, St Louis; Emily Elizabeth Steffke, Beal City; Connor Thomas, Marlette; and Pierce Vreeland, Gobles.

The Class D Scholar-Athlete Award recipients are:  Margo Brown, St. Ignace; Kevin Greenman, Battle Creek St. Philip; Travis McCormick, Mason County Eastern; and Rachelle Trafford, Lansing Christian.

Other Class D girls finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Danielle Piggott, Fowler; Taylor Richards, Fruitport Calvary Christian; Anissa Keeler, Marion; Kelsey Rambo, Pickford; Hunter Branstrom, Rock Mid Peninsula; and Jane Hursey, Suttons Bay.

Other Class D boys finalists for the Scholar-Athlete Award were: Thomas Gallagher, Peck; Chantz Owens, Burr Oak; James Thibodeau, Clarkston Everest Collegiate; Gideon Rea Mulka, Hillman; Aaron Van Horn, Kingston; Connor Patrick Cappaert, Stephenson.

Students applying for the Scholar-Athlete Award must be carrying at least a 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average and have previously won a letter in a varsity sport in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors a postseason tournament. Other requirements for the applicants were to show active participation in other school and community activities and produce an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.

The Class B scholarship award recipients will be announced on Feb. 10, and the Class A honorees will be announced on Feb. 17.

Farm Bureau Insurance, one of Michigan’s major insurers, has a statewide force of 450 agents serving nearly 500,000 Michigan policyholders. Besides providing life, home, auto, farm, business and retirement insurance, the company also sponsors life-saving, real-time Doppler weather tracking systems in several Michigan communities.             

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.