Groves' Jessica Turner Receives Scholar-Athlete Award

Jessica Turner, a senior at Groves High School, is one of 13 Class A high school athletes across Michigan to receive a 2012 Scholar-Athlete Award from the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA).

Turner anticipates finishing high school with 12 varsity letters — three each year of high school for golf, basketball and softball. She served as captain for two seasons on the Groves girls golf and basketball teams and will captain the softball team this spring.

In November, Turner was named to the Division 2 all-state team for golf and currently holds Groves' nine-hole match record with an even-par 35. In addition, she has played on league champion basketball and softball teams and earned all-county recognition in softball in spring 2011.

In an essay submitted for the Scholar-Athlete Award, Turner wrote that sportsmanship is more than how you perform on the playing field.

"It is the moments when no one else is watching that an athlete's principles are truly tested," Turner's essay reads. "... sportsmanship lies most deeply in the hearts of the athletes themselves. Sportsmanship means more to me than being a winner on a scoreboard."

Off the golf course, basketball court and softball diamond, Turner currently serves as president of Groves' National Honor Society and was a National Merit Scholarship finalist. She also serves in Groves' Student Congress and is a tutor and mentor.

Turner will attend the University of Michigan in the fall to study brain and cognitive sciences.

The Scholar-Athlete Award has been sponsored for 22 years by Farm Bureau Insurance, which presents $1,000 college scholarships to 32 individuals in classes A through D every year who represent their school in at least one sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament.

All scholarship recipients will be honored during a halftime ceremony at the Class C boys basketball final game March 24 at the Breslin Student Events Center at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Commemorative medallions will also be awarded to the various finalists. In Class A, Birmingham's finalists include Kelly Lunghamer of Marian High School, Brother Rice's Nick Rao and Christopher Sesi and Blaine Stannard from Groves.