Amos Norland, of Dollar Bay-Tamarack City, is all smiles after winning the Upper Peninsula Division 3 Cross Country individual championship as a senior this past fall. (Submitted photo)
DOLLAR BAY — Dollar Bay-Tamarack City High School senior Amos Norland was recently rewarded by the Michigan High School Athletic Association for his hard work on the field and in the classroom. He was one of 10 MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete award recipients from an (MHSAA) Class D school. The award, which was announced earlier this month, amounted to a $2,000 college scholarship.
Norland ran four seasons of varsity cross country. He is playing his third season of varsity basketball, and will compete in his fourth year of track and field this spring. He has earned all-state cross country honors all four years, helping his team to two U.P. Finals titles and a runner-up finish, and winning the Upper Peninsula Division 3 individual championship as a senior this past fall.
“I couldn’t think of a more deserving student athlete than Amos,” said his basketball coach and the principal of Dollar Bay High School, Jesse Kentela. “He’s an amazing student and just loves sports. He’ll try anything and be good in it.”
During his time at Dollar Bay, he has earned all-state in multiple track events and helped the Blue Bolts win a finals title as well. He earned all-league in basketball and served as a cross country team leader and basketball captain.
“Amos has been such a leader for us on the basketball court this past season,” Kentala added. “He is not the flashiest player we’ve had, but rather one of the hardest working, and (he) has just set an incredible example for the other youngest players.”
Off the track or court, Kentala added that Norland is one of those rare students that make his school better.
He is serving a fourth year on student council, and is also serving as class president for a fourth year. He is participating in his third year of National Honor Society, serving as chapter president, and is serving a third year on the Student Leadership Advisory Council of the Keweenaw, as director of resources. Norland is also in his fourth year of band as saxophone section leader.
He will attend Michigan Technological University to study kinesiology in the Fall of 2023 and run cross country for the Huskies.
Students applying for this scholar-athlete award must have carried 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.
Norland’s application essay included the following passage:
“As good as it feels to beat a rival basketball team or win a race, demonstrating good sportsmanship is valuable in a deeper way. Winning gives you a victory. Sportsmanship builds character, forms relationships, and provides you with important lifelong lessons. My cross-country coach teaches us how to be respectful almost as much as he teaches us how to run. As a result, we have grown as runners, but more so, we have grown to show the values of being a good sport.”
