The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) is proud to announce its fall 2016 Scholar-Athlete teams. This is the 25th year the NYSPHSAA has conducted the Scholar-Athlete program, which is sponsored by Pupil Benefits Plan, Inc.
“Congratulations to our member schools and student-athletes,” said Executive Director Robert Zayas. “We continue to be proud of this program which recognizes success in the classroom. We are excited to have the opportunity to expand this program to honor even more students for the academic excellence.”
In July 2016, the NYSPHSAA Central Committee approved numerous changes to the program which included new qualifying criteria and more individual recognition. One change in the new criteria is at least 75% of a team’s roster grade point average (GPA) must average 90.00 or above to earn Scholar-Athlete Team status. Teams who meet this standard are honored with a certificate. Also, new to the program this year is recognizing any individual who receives a 90.00 or above GPA. Individuals reaching this plateau are honored with a NYSPHSAA Scholar-Athlete pin.
Additionally, NYSPHSAA will now also provide recognition to any individual with a 90.00 or above GPA whose team did not qualify for the team award. These individuals are eligible to receive pins and are considered an Individual Scholar-Athlete. This fall there were 42,535 Individual Scholar-Athlete awards handed out and a total of 2,942 teams who received the Scholar-Athlete Team award.
A School of Excellence Award has also been added to the program which recognizes schools who have 75% of its varsity programs receive the Scholar-Athlete Team Award over the academic school year. There will no longer be a State Champion recognized in this category.