Advisor’s Note: “Then and Now” is a new idea for story submissions in Cardinal Nation. In the past we have shared stories from previous Mentor High School newspapers including The Mentor Log and Inkwell. Now, beyond just sharing those “blasts from the past,” we ask questions about what has changed, what has stayed the same, and what the future holds.
Then
Editorial: Sports Favoritism?
June 2011, Mentor High School Inkwell
by Claire Barnes, Editor-In-Chief
On April 12, 2011, I attended the monthly Board of Education meeting along with other members of winter teams who qualified for state tournaments. Those recognized were the Speech and Debate Team State Qualifiers, the Mock Trial Team State Qualifiers, the Gymnastics Team State Qualifiers, the Bowling Team State Qualifier, the Wrestling State Qualifiers, the Competitive Cheerleading Team State Qualifiers, and the Basketball team. All the teams had approximately two minutes of recognition on the A-Lecture stage, except the basketball team which received around 15 minutes.
The members of the other teams, when recognized, had their names called and the advisor or coach spoke for a minute or two about the qualifiers total. The members of the basketball team each had their own individual minute-long speech and the coach talked for a very long length of time about the various good works the boys did around the community. The purpose of that particular board meeting seemed to be to recognize state qualifiers.
We all know, however, the boy’s basketball team did not make it to states. So, why were they invited? A great record?
Well, no, that can’t be the reason because Mentor’s bowling team had an undefeated season with a record of 18-0. They had a perfect season which is the very definition of a great record, yet the bowling team was not invited to the board meeting. OK the basketball team was district champions, but so was the Mock Trial team. But were they recognized? Nope. Only the state qualifiers for Mock Trial were invited.
The basketball team should not have been invited. Why they were, I do not know. Possibly the board was feeling bad about them not making it to states, but, if that is the reason, it’s a pretty poor one. The way it looks right now is that the boy’s basketball team is favored over all other winter activities. It seemed that the Mentor administration favors the glory sports – basketball and football.
The football team has a marching band go from hallway to hallway every Friday to wish the boys good luck. When the basketball team made it to states last year, they got an entire pep assembly dedicated to sending them off. Mentor doesn’t do this for any other activity that makes it to states. The Science Olympiad team which makes it to nationals on a yearly basis and does pretty well- they aren’t sent off with a big pep assembly. We seemingly couldn’t afford to give the gymnasts a ride home from states, but we can afford an extra pep assembly?
Favoritism and blatant adoration of glory sports plagues Mentor Schools, but can anything be done? The basketball and football teams may bring in more money than any other sport or activity, but that’s no excuse.
According to Collegetimes.us, the odds of becoming any type of professional athlete is about 24550 to 1. So, seeing the amount of attention we give the sports teams and the odds of actually doing something with those skills, it is pretty clear that not having activities that exercise and benefit the mind on the same level as athletics makes no sense whatsoever.
Something should change and maybe it will, but whatever that change may be it would mean changing our very culture here at MHS.
Now
Sports Favoritism… Fourteen Years Later?
January 2025, Cardinal Nation
Nearly 14 years ago, the editor-in-chief of Mentor High School’s Inkwell called for action – change in MHS culture to develop equality between all extracurriculars, both academic and athletic, when she felt that athletics were held upon a higher pedestal. Nearly 14 years later, it is time for us to reevaluate how MHS views its extracurriculars. Did a shift bring extracurriculars to an athletic-academic truce, as Barnes deemed was necessary, or did over a decade’s worth of time merit no change at all?
As someone who is involved with a diverse set of extracurriculars here at MHS, ranging from competitive academics, to music, to athletics, I have served witness to discrepancies like those Barnes noted in her 2011 editorial. While I do believe that the school’s attempt to instate extracurricular equality has been fruitful and highly appreciated, it is difficult to say that each activity is truly held upon the same level of recognition and value.
This issue is not a distinct battle between athletics and other extracurriculars. All are integral parts of a student’s high school experience and thoroughly shape a student’s future. Many students at Mentor compete on athletic and academic teams, partake in music, and contribute to clubs. Each year, many MHS seniors commit to playing their sport in college, and gain athletic scholarships to fund their academics, education, and career. Similarly, many students gain financial scholarships through their academic and extracurricular achievements, fueling academic greatness.
Extracurriculars help teach and develop core skills necessary for a student’s life and career. Being involved in them can assist in college admissions and preliminary job applications, and many students keep this in mind when joining clubs that align with their interests. For many of us, however, such activities are simply fun. We enjoy club meetings, practices, competitions, tournaments, and games. We enjoy spending time with peers with similar interests. We gain friendships and a group of people we can rely on.
Admittedly, the upper hand of high school athletics is that they foster an incomparable sense of community. Students crowd the seats of Jerome T. Osborne stadium every Friday in the fall to cheer on our football team. My tennis coach even scheduled our matches around Fridays so that we would be able to go to games. While there may be a small number of students who attend games for the actual football aspect, the wide majority of the student body utilizes games as an opportunity to socialize, spend time with others, and share a sense of common pride. Football is an American staple. It is no lie that American schools have a hyper-fixation with athletics. Naturally, such athletics are favored for their value in student culture.
Regardless, other academics should not be valued less in recognition or resources. Recognition was a key issue evaluated in Barnes’ 2011 editorial. She stated that competitive academic extracurriculars – presently like Science Olympiad, Speech and Debate, Model UN, Mock Trial, and Math League – did not receive equal recognition for attaining the same level (or a greater level, even) of achievement as sports. This issue is one that I believe the school has improved on since 2011. While recognition is still not flawless, and we still find the occasional discrepancy, it is still given where merited. I believe that an honest attempt at extracurricular equality has been instated. In the board meetings I’ve attended for student recognition, I found that state qualifiers and regional winners hailed from a wide variety of sports, academic extracurriculars, and CTE programs. Students from activities like FCMB, Cross Country, and even Math League were given the opportunity to be recognized for achieving state-wide recognition during our most recent clapout this year.
Some of our pep assemblies have moved to holistically appreciating our seniors while verbally celebrating their team and individual successes. However, these assemblies primarily only honor our seniors on sports teams, rather than those in other competitive extracurriculars. Rather, clubs, music, and academic teams are asked to stand in the bleachers, which is uncomfortable. In my freshman year, during our fall assembly, our girl’s tennis team had been failed to be verbally recognized, leaving our seniors confused at the center of the gymnasium floor. This was an honest mistake. Regardless, being forgotten makes it seem that smaller teams are not cared about as much as our other sports. It makes it seem that they are overshadowed.
Some sports teams do not receive as much attention as others, and they often lack funding and resources as well. While all sports are entitled to at least one fully funded meal each season for traveling a significant number of miles, not all teams are given this privilege. Some end up using their own budgets to feed their exhausted athletes after a long day. In some instances, our JV and freshman teams may receive fewer resources than our varsity teams, and while our varsity teams are higher stakes, this inhibits our JV athletes from going further. Some teams are rewarded with rented air-conditioned buses to travel to States, while teams like Science Olympiad brave through rickety, leaky, cold school buses for two-hour rides to Columbus. Our sports teams should get comfortable buses as they travel to a well-earned opportunity that is the fruit of their hard work throughout the season. They deserve it. However, it should be noted that our other students who achieve the same level of competition should receive such concessions as well. Our athletes are understandably honored with senior banners celebrating their last year of high school, but most of our other extracurriculars typically don’t get anything like that at all. Yet, when I travel to other high schools for competitions, I find their walls graced with banners of their Science Olympiad, Model UN, and Mock Trial seniors alongside cheerleading, softball, volleyball, and golf.
While it is understood that many of such funds come from the rigorous efforts of group fundraising and booster clubs, it is also more difficult to gain funding as a small club, competitive academic extracurricular, or lesser-known music program. Organizational initiative still needs to be taken to develop such recognitions. Everyone knows basketball, football, soccer, baseball, or marching band. When some of our other extracurriculars reach out to community members, they get questioned about what activities like Science Olympiad, Model UN, and Mock Trial are, because most simply haven’t heard of them. Others don’t even know that Mentor has teams like tennis, rugby, or lacrosse. Their funding essentially comes from their own parents and families, who have already paid MHS extracurricular fees. They make an effort to fundraise and advocate for themselves, but when they do, it isn’t easy to garner support from a community already hyper-fixed with other activities.
Note – if you still are unfamiliar with some of the activities and clubs we’re referencing in this article, Cardinal Nation has a bounty of extracurricular profiles and articles recognizing student success. We’re happy to explain.
While our school community may come together with the help of certain athletic teams, this doesn’t mean we should be undermining the efforts of other sports and extracurriculars. We should not underestimate the hours of practice, rehearsal, studying, and preparation that so many of us put into our passions.
People can go out to watch football and basketball games. Admittedly, people cannot go out to watch Science Olympiad or Math League tests (if they could, it would be a rather unfruitful experience). People cannot simply observe a Model UN conference or Mock Trial competition on a random Friday. We can, however, support our clubs in their fundraising initiatives to help fuel student success. We can go see band, orchestra, choir, theatre, and Top 25 performances to support our performing arts programs. We can go cheer on our friends at their sports games, tournaments, and matches.
Over the years, MHS has certainly taken numerous steps in the right direction, but I will leave it on the same note that Barnes did in 2011, in hopes that progress will eventually go further.
Something did change over the last 14 years, but as we look to the future, some things still need to.
