Hard to believe that some high schools have done away with lettering. Many national and local academic awards have rules that include lettering.Excuse my ignorance, but what is the point of "lettering"? Is it just being awarded a physical cloth letter to sew on a school jacket or are there other benefits? As far as I know, schools in my area have not given out letters (for varsity athletics) in decades. I don't think I've seen a "letterman jacket" since the 70's or 80's. They seem to have gone out of style along with HS class rings.
One example is the NISCA/Speedo USA Academic All American Award. Rules are:
- You have to be a senior.
- You have to have had a 3.75 GPA or 93.75% of the grade scale your school uses for 7 out of 8 semesters or 11 out of 12 trimesters. So, basically all 4 years of highschool, where you can only mess up one semester.
- You have to letter in swimming, diving or water polo in your senior year.
We have a couple of swim friends whose children received this award and it opened a ton of doors on their college applications because it showed the universities that the students can successfully balance a varsity sport and their school work, indicating some level of organization and commitment.
Our state high school athletic organization also awards 1st and 2nd Academic All State Team awards to juniors and seniors. To earn these awards, you have to have:
- Be a junior or senior
- Cumulative GPA (3.6+ for 1st team and 3.0-3.59 for 2nd team)
- earned a letter in your respective high school sport.
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