Gladstone's William Morton Collegiate Institute (WMCI) is taking a new approach to the the way it decides its top athletes each year.
And school staff believe the new approach will be more fair for its student-athletes.
Rather than choosing the typical awards such as Most Valuable Player and Most Improved Player, the school has moved to giving out Junior and Senior Letters, as well as a Male and Female Athlete of the Year award, based on a points system.
"The old system of MVPs and MIPs has been very subjective and was not favoured by staff," phys ed teacher Paul Koshel explained. "We decided there needed to be a change."
The new awards system gives student-athletes points based on participation in all clubs and teams. As a follow-up, coaches and advisors evaluate the student for more points.
Beyond that, the points athletes receive is based on their performance.
Students received more points for being part of teams which make it to zone finals, win zones, inter-zones or provincials receive more points.
Athletes who are chosen for an All-Star Team at tournaments or provincials will also receive additional points.
To remind athletes of the scholarly commitment of being 'student-athletes', points are also given for non-athletic clubs such as student council and peer helpers.
"We want it to be an award for contributing to the whole school," Koshel said.
Points are accumulated from Grade 9 to Grade 12, with 200 points getting a student a Junior Letter and 400 points getting them a Senior Letter. A Grade 12 student may graduate with a Junior Letter and, likewise, it is possible for a Grade 11 student to get a Senior Letter - although that is not very likely to occur.
"Trying to accumulate these point totals will not be easy. There may be some years where no one gets a Senior Letter and Grade 12 students are getting Junior Letters only," Koshel said. "Those who receive letters will have put in an immense amount of time representing our school. In most cases, students will need to be involved in many school teams/clubs for four years to receive the Senior Letter."
In its inaugural year, seven students received the Junior Letter while three students - all from Grade 12 - received Senior Letters.
The Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards are now also being determined based on points totals, but rather than being an accumulative award, the Athlete of the Year awards will be based on students points totals from only that year.
This year, Tanner Peters and Alyson Vercaigne were recipients of those awards.
