Senior David Jahnke was recently selected by the Michigan High School Athletic Association as one of a select thirty-two statewide winners in the MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award program.  Jahnke is the first Valley Lutheran student to be selected as a scholarship winner in the history of this program.  His qualifications and an excerpt from his essay as reported by MHSAA are below.  We commend David for this impressive accomplishment and congratulate him on this scholarship award!

Originally posted at https://secondhalf.mhsaa.com/All-News/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9526/Scholars-Athletes-2021-Class-C-D:

David Jahnke
Played three seasons of varsity football, wrestling on varsity for fourth season and will run his second season of varsity track & field in the spring.  Earned all-league recognition and won a county championship in wrestling, and served as team captain.  Earned academic all-state in football. Participating in second year of student council and elected class treasurer.  Participating in second year of National Honor Society and fourth years in school’s key club, STEM club, Spanish club and global awareness club.  Playing in school’s symphonic band for third year.  Earned key club Service Medallion and elected to organize group projects, and also serving as STEM school Chief Science Officer.  Will attend Michigan State University and study biomedical engineering.

Essay Quote: “Without the true sportsmanship amongst my teammates and the opponents we faced, I would not have continued participating in those sports. In doing so I would have walked away from a sport I learned to love, and that has caused me to grow as a person by building my character. … If I had been shown unkindness instead of goodwill, mockery instead of encouragement, selfishness instead of generosity, I would have missed all the valuable lessons taught to me by athletics.”

To learn more about this scholarship or to learn of this year’s other winners head to the link above.