Grandview’s Hall of Fame has been introduced into Grandview and is aimed towards showing and celebrating the successes of Grandview’s large student body. It may sound significant except for it’s lack of showcasing for other students then just athletes.

The first generation of past students and staff for the Hall of Fame consists of people that are highly successful and were esteemed in their specific fields. These include Patty Childress, a volleyball coach who staffed for 1998-2016, Kevin Gausman, who played basketball and baseball, and Michaela Onyenwere, a basketball and track-and-field athlete. Along with Eddie Yarbough, who played football, track and field, and participated in unified sports.

The only student nominated for the Hall of Fame who wasn’t involved in the sports department in some way was Erik C. Peterson. Unlike the other nominees, Peterson was part of the theater community at Grandview. 

Out of the 5 people selected, 4 were recognized for succeeding in coaching or playing sports. It doesn’t make sense that there is only one person not connected to sports, because there are countless other people who don’t do sports that could be recognized. 

The Hall of Fame is put together by a committee, and they pick from nominations sent in by the school’s community. Anyone can write a nomination, and the only requirements are that the nominee hasn’t been at Grandview in 5 or more years. This is why it’s unclear why 4 out of 5 of the first people in the Hall of Fame are in the sports department. 

“As the Hall of Fame happens again, year after year after year, there will be plenty of athletes, but you will see more and more [nominees] that are not,” Jamee Ulitzky, a member of the Hall of Fame committee, said. 

Although Ms. Ulitzky thinks the Hall of Fame will include other clubs in later years, there isn’t a reason why that will happen unless people make a conscious effort to include the newer or smaller clubs. 

People should be able to see that this school is full of diversity and isn’t just about sports. We have over 40 clubs that are doing incredible things for our community. These include Key Club doing service projects to help the less fortunate and Sources of Strength promoting individuals knowing their own strengths to support themselves.

It’s a no-brainer that these things should be shown off instead of just sports getting to state or an athlete beating a difficult record. The community should be able to understand Grandview’s core values such as creativity, mental health, and student inclusion. 

Everyone knows that Grandview’s sports are a great success, and there are countless student athletes who have incredible talent.

But just because kids may not be dominating the sports scene doesn’t mean they aren’t making impacts in other areas. There are other  remarkable achievements made by Grandview students in academics, performing arts, and more. 

Fame isn’t only for athletes, it’s for students and staff members who have exceled and made a difference within the community. The Hall of Fame committee must use the hall of fame as more then just a catalog of sports, but instead a catalog of accumulated greatness from every club at Grandview.