South Albany High School has won the 2016-17 “We Are #1!” Student Section Contest for receiving the most votes on social media. The award recognizes school pride, sportsmanship and creativity.
The school will receive a “Best Student Section in the State” banner and lunch for 300 students. The video will also be displayed on the OSAA Sportsmanship page.
The video entry was produced by students in Andy Winn’s digital media class.
Principal Brent Belveal congratulated staff and students for winning the award and recognized the contributions of all Rebel staff with the following message:
I want to give a huge shout out to Andy Winn and his awesome work with our video students. Their video submission is getting rave reviews from members of the OSAA and others as they’ve viewed the video.
While we tend to focus on academic improvement and graduation requirements in our jobs — I think it’s important to also know that our kids are demonstrating their personal pride and connection to our school through their actions outside the classroom. It all goes together.
For some kids, involvement and success in athletics or activities is what helps them to feel like part of the school and to engage more rigorously in their academic efforts. For some kids, getting to be part of a huge student crowd at events allows them to feel like they are a part of our school and contributors to our success, which tends to impact their classroom efforts as well.
I want to thank our coaches who work directly with our athletes but also each and every staff member who invests daily in our kids. Whether it’s in the classroom, in the hallway, at a game or event, supporting a student club, coaching, volunteering for Saturday Success of Rebels Rising — every single investment contributes to the overall growth of our individual kids and in the bigger picture, our entire school culture.
So thank you Andy for taking the risk to enter this competition and putting yourself and your students “out there” so to speak. Every time we do this, I believe we get better. Thank you each for all that you do every day to impact our kids and to literally change their lives!