By Gloria Zink
Ceniad
East Lansing HS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Kieran Eisenlohr (11) <\/strong>buckled up to take his first steps into gymnastics practice, he was apprehensive. His skin chilled, and the hair on his arms stood prominently higher than before. He knew that the gym was where he wanted to be-\u2014but what he wasn\u2019t sure of was whether or not he would be welcomed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s because he wanted to be on the gymnastics team-\u2014he was aware that he would be the only boy, but was not sure if he could join the team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was unsure whether I would be able to participate or not, and I didn\u2019t know most of the girls, so I was self conscious of what they would think of me,\u201d Eisenlohr said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But after the first few minutes of practice, Eisenlohr\u2019s stress disappeared due to the supportive atmosphere created by the team. One person who added to the welcoming environment was Isabelle Churchill (11)<\/strong>, who has been on the team since freshman year. She sparked the idea for Eisenlohr to join the team, but she wasn\u2019t sure if he was able to participate due to his gender. So, after attending the first practice and speaking with coach Kelsey Mongoven, Eisenlohr joined the team knowing he wouldn\u2019t be able to compete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe really lightens up the environment,\u201d Churchill said. \u201cWe are used to practicing in front of just girls, but with Eisenlohr there to add a male presence at all times, it makes competing in front of all genders easier, and overall he is just fun to have on the team.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n In turn, he also encouraged his teammates with his lively energy and constant effort in practice. His positive attitude also influenced fellow teammate, Nyanchera Monagare (11)<\/strong>, to join the team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe adds something different to the team,\u201d Mongare said. \u201cHis positivity as well as his constant and consistent effort and energy is refreshing because even though he knows he can\u2019t compete, he still tries just as hard if not harder than the other girls.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Teammate Fanceta Brown (10) <\/strong>believes that Eisenlohr is courageous for joining the team. According to Brown, his positive presence creates a comforting team dynamic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe is really funny and sassy, and he just adds a fun spice to the team,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI\u2019m really glad that I can be on the team with him. He keeps it very light hearted and makes it easy to come to practice every day.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Eisenlohr looks to continue to expand his skill set and grow into a better gymnast throughout the season. He hopes his positive impact can influence other boys to join the team as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf I can, I want to encourage others to believe they can too,\u201d Eisenlohr said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 1st Place Any topic that spotlights an unusual aspect of any event, a coach, a player or any controversy. An individual story may not be submitted in more than one writing category. <\/strong>Submit a PDF of the page(s) showing the entry. CLEARLY INDICATE WHICH STORY YOU WISH JUDGED in Additional Information field if there are multiple stories on the page.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n By Gloria Zink CeniadEast Lansing HS When Kieran Eisenlohr (11) buckled up to take his first steps into gymnastics practice, he was apprehensive. His skin chilled, and the hair on his arms stood prominently higher than before. He knew that the gym was where he wanted to be-\u2014but what he wasn\u2019t sure of was whether […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":5143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[103,3,11],"tags":[176,21],"class_list":{"0":"post-5142","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sportsfeaturewriting","8":"category-yb","9":"category-ybverbal","10":"tag-2020-21","11":"tag-division2","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Copy-of-038325_026-027.png?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Copy-of-038325_026-027.png?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"Jason Laplow","author_link":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/?author=11"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Copy-of-038325_026-027.png?fit=2700%2C1800&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6K0n6-1kW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5142"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5142\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acutabove.mipamsu.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Division 2, Yearbook Verbal<\/p>\n\n\n\nY-03. Sports Feature Writing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
JUDGING CRITERIA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n