Congratulations to the following schools for winning cash grants in the third annual High School Spirit program.

Large Schools (more than 1,000 students)
1. Minnechaug Regional High School
2. Boston College High School
3. Chelmsford High School
Medium Schools (501-999 students)
1. Belchertown High School
2. Nashoba Regional High School
3. Canton High School
Small Schools (500 or less students)
1. Frontier Regional High School
2. Matignon High School
3. Whitinsville Christian High School

The first, second and third place schools are awarded $1,000, $500 and $250, respectively, for having the highest number of students participate in the 2011 Bay State Summer and Winter Games.

Thank to all of our participants, coaches, volunteers, officials and medical staff for making our 30th Anniversary a memorable one.  We hope to see you in 2012!

The Bay State Games is proud to announce the 2011 Future Leaders Scholarship recipients. After a rigorous application process, filled with countless deserving Bay State Games participants, the following six student-athletes were selected for possessing outstanding credentials in academics, athletics, community service and leadership.

Joseph Kuykendall: Andover, Andover High School
The Andover native has been the captain of his varsity volleyball team for two years. He also acts as the girls’ team manager, and plays for the Beantown Volleyball Club. Though volleyball is his passion, he is heavily involved in his community in other ways as well. He is a member of several groups, including Andover Youth Council, Youth Alpha Group, and Junior Board of Directors. Kuykendall is also dedicated to his church community, and is an active member of their youth group. He enjoys every aspect of sports, including public relations, and is a leader of his school’s Radio and TV Production Club, as well as a contributing writer for bostonsportsu18.com. Despite his many commitments and accomplishments, he maintains a 3.95 GPA.

Samantha Flecchia: Burlington, Burlington High School
Flecchia is a varsity swimmer at Burlington High, and has been elected as her team’s captain for the upcoming season. This year she earned the MIAA Sportsmanship Award, and participated in swim meets of all levels, including States. In addition to her school team, Flecchia swims for the Woburn Boys and Girls Club Team, and works as a lifeguard and swim instructor. Also an accomplished pianist, this student-athlete splits the rest of her time between music, community service, and academics. She is an active member in her church group, a peer mentor, and a member of several school clubs. All the while she maintains a 3.88 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Gilson Hogan: Stow, Nashoba Regional High School
Hogan is a varsity soccer and track and field athlete at Nashoba, and volunteers as a coach of a local girls’ soccer team as well. Though he is an accomplished athlete, Hogan is perhaps most passionate about community service. He spent nine years in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, where he completed much-needed repairs in an underprivileged high school as part of his Eagle Project with the Boy Scouts of America. In addition to his work as an Eagle Scout, Hogan is an Emergency Medical Technician, a volunteer academic tutor, and Bible study group leader. Even with all his commitments, Hogan maintains a 4.33 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Amanda Konieczny: West Springfield, Granby High School
Konieczny has been a member of Granby High’s varsity swimming and cross-country teams for the past three years. The West Springfield native started swimming at 4 years old and never stopped. In addition to her involvement with her school team, she participates in the Holyoke YMCA swimming program, including volunteering in their “Learn to Swim Week.” Along with swimming, her other passion is music. Konieczny is an accomplished tenor saxophonist and has been playing for the past seven years. She earned the principal chair position in her school’s senior concert band, and a member of their jazz band as well. She has compiled a 4.22 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society.

Rachael Camara: Fall River, B.M.C. Durfee High School
As a member of her school’s varsity basketball and varsity soccer teams, Camara has proven herself as a talented and driven athlete. She serves as the captain of the soccer team and volunteers as a coach in several youth basketball programs. Camara is passionate about mentoring kids in her community, and does so through the Freedom Writers Club, Interact Club, and Literacy Action Plan Committee. In addition to her school involvement, she volunteers at the Special Olympics and area soup kitchens in her spare time. In addition, her outstanding academic performance has earned her a spot in the National Honor Society and a 4.12 GPA.

Torin Zonfrelli: Carver, Tabor Academy
Zonfrelli is a three-sport athlete at Tabor Academy - football, lacrosse and wrestling - and will graduate with nine varsity letters. He has been honored with several school-wide awards, including Tabor Academy Athlete of the Year. He has also been elected captain of his football team for the upcoming season. Splitting his time between sports, it could be difficult to find room in his schedule for anything else. However, Zonfrelli maintains consistently high grades and is heavily involved in community service. He recently established the “Zonfrelli Project,” a service that collects and donates food to those in need. He also volunteers with the Special Olympics, Step2Autism, and local athletic programs. Zonfrelli will go global with his philanthropy later this summer when he travels to New Zealand to coach underprivileged children in rugby and singing.

Applications for the scholarship were submitted by Bay State Games athletes who were in the 11th grade as of the 2010-11 academic year. More than 100 applications were reviewed by Bay State Games staff and board members, before a pool of 18 were asked to interview. This year, six students from that pool were selected to receive a $2,000 scholarship. For more than two decades, the Future Leaders Scholarship program has distributed over $200,000 to students. For more information on the Future Leaders Scholarship and the Bay State Summer Games, please visit www.baystategames.org.

For more information, visit the Future Leaders Scholarship webpage.

All internship positions for the 2011 Bay State Summer Games have been filled. Thank you to all the great candidates who applied!

The Bay State Games staff would like to welcome:

Kristian Rose – Operations - UMass Amherst
Carly Salerno – Operations - UMass Amherst
Jonathan Casey – Operations - UMass Amherst
David Gay – Operations - Western New England College
Stephen Farmer – Finance / Operations - University of Virginia
Megan Kenslea - Sports Information - Boston University

We are excited for the new interns to get started, as we look forward to another great summer.

The Phoenix Coyotes’ Keith Yandle was a member of the Southeast region ice hockey team in the 2003 Bay State Summer Games. A native of Boston, MA, Yandle attended Cushing Academy in Ashburnham and was drafted 105th overall in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. The defenseman has tallied 96 points in three seasons with Phoenix, and recently posted two goals and three assists in the first round of this year’s NHL playoffs as the Coyotes pushed the Detroit Red Wings to seven games.

From the more than 8,000 Massachusetts participants in the Bay State Summer and Winter Games, Amy Hicks has been selected as the 2009 Athlete of the Year.

Hicks, a Needham resident, is a senior competitor who won gold medals in both synchronized swimming and track & field at this year's Summer Games.

The Athlete of the Year Award involves over 38 states games programs across the country which represents over 400,000 nationwide participants annually. The program was developed to recognize outstanding state games participants from all member states. Each state games selects their representative who is then forwarded for consideration for recognition as the National Athlete of the Year.

The National Congress of State Games and each member state select their Athlete of the Year representatives based on a series of criteria which include length of participation in state games, number of medals won, sportsmanship, attitude and effort, overall athletic participation and achievement, the positive manner in which the athlete represents the spirit of amateur athletics and the state games movement, as well as other factors.

The 2009 Jack Aborn Memorial Archery Scholarship was awarded to Amanda Ferrie of Auburn, Mass. Amanda is currently a senior Johnson & Wales where she has twice been named to the Dean’s List and started an archery program. She is ranked in the top 20 nationally as a collegiate archer. Amanda participated in Bay State Summer Games archery competition in 2004-2007 and in 2009.

The scholarship is a $250 Scholarship that will be awarded to a participant in the Bay State Games Archery competition.

The Bay State Games are proud to announce that the Fifth Annual Marino Lecture and Sports Medicine Symposium is open to all the medical volunteers who were involved with the 2009 Summer Games free of charge.

For more information, please check the 2009 brochure.

It was an incredible site this weekend at MIT, as 19 new Bay State Summer Games records were established. Highlighting the incredible individual performances was Hyde Park's Carla Forbes. The 14 year old set an unofficial national record in the triple jump with a leap of 39 feet, 3 inches.

Congratulations to the top three finishers from the scholastic air rifle competition held at the Reading Rifle and Revolver Club as part of the 2009 Bay State Summer Games.

Click here for full results from the event.

Congratulations to Michael Yastrzemski, of Andover, for being drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 36th round of 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

The St. John's Prep product was a member of the Northeast baseball team that took the silver medal at last summer's Bay State Games.

The Bay State Games and local sports website www.bostonsportsu18.com are looking for youth bloggers who can report on the 2009 Summer Games.

Ideally, bloggers should be between the ages of 10 and 17 and be passionate about sports and journalism. Bloggers will report on a variety of sports and have unique access to players, coaches and Bay State Games personnel. No experience is necessary. Anyone interested should e-mail Mike Winn at info@bostonsportsu18.com.

www.bostonsportsu18.com is a website that will report on all of the Boston Sports teams and feature training tips, nutrition tips, pictures and videos, high school reports, interviews with athletes, product reviews and much more. Boston Sports U18 is written “by kids, for kids” with most bloggers under the age of 18.