The 2015 – 2016 Scholar Athlete Finalists were announced by the Michigan High School Athletic Association last month with senior Brianna Costigan taking one of the 32 spots available to Class A schools. This puts Costigan in the running for one of six scholarships worth $1,000 each.

“I feel really great about it because it’s a confidence booster,” Costigan said. “My accomplishments and the experiences that helped me get here today have been noticed.”

Finalists are chosen through an application process for which students had to have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 and have earned at least one varsity letter in one MHSAA sport. The application also required responses to a few short essay questions, two letters of recommendation and a 500-word essay on the importance of sportsmanship. Submitted applications were judged by a 58-member committee of school coaches, counselors, faculty members, administrators and board members.

“In the [sportsmanship] essay I defined sportsmanship as not taking away the other players’ love for the game,” Costigan said. “Just being nice all the time and not doing things that would hinder someone by taking away their love of the game. Like, if you play dirty and the person doesn’t want to play, that’s bad sportsmanship. To me, that is the importance of sportsmanship: making sure everybody still wants to play.”

With only 120 students being selected statewide from 1,425 applicants, standing out to the judges is imperative to earning this honor.

“Being on varsity for both of my sports since freshman year definitely helped me stand out, as well as making All State for soccer and going to states for swimming,” Costigan said. “I probably would have made All State this year for swimming as well, but then I got hurt so I couldn’t. Then team accomplishments as well, especially soccer – making it to the state semi-finals my freshman year and then state finals last year.”

Should she win one of the scholarships, Costigan will take it to the University of Cincinnati where she will be playing for the Division I girls soccer team.

“Even though I started swimming freshman year, I’ve been playing soccer forever,” Costigan said. “It’s just the sport that I love the most. From the moment I step onto the field for practice or a game, it just makes me so happy.”

MHSAA will not announce the scholarship winners until mid-February. Until then, Costigan will continue preparing for this coming soccer season with the rest of her team.