Michigan Alternative Athletic Association

SOUTHGATE: Athletic director wins unsung hero award
Published: Tuesday, February 09, 2010
By Rene Cizio

SOUTHGATE — An unsung heroine is being recognized at a school in the city Ruth Kemp, with the Southgate Adult and Community Education’s Asher School program, is the first recipient of the National Association of Sports and Physical Education Unsung Hero Award. Kemp is the athletic director and an academic adviser and teacher. She will accept the award in Indianapolis in March.

Kemp, who was nominated by a peer, was selected for going the extra mile to support youth at Asher. “I was flabbergasted when I learned that I would be the first recipient of this national award,” she said. “It is a tremendous honor.” NASPE is a nonprofit professional association with about 16,000 members in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Melanie Holland, an academic adviser/coordinator, nominated Kemp.

Holland said Kemp has been the driving force behind the establishment of Asher’s physical education program, which serves at-risk youth. The school had no physical education program until Kemp created one. Without funding, Kemp, along with other staff, volunteered to help coach the students and develop the program. As time went on, the administration allowed for a $12,000 budget. Holland said that Kemp was instrumental in creating the award-winning golf and fitness class. It became a reality when Kemp and a colleague received a $25,000 grant from the USGA. Several other grants have been awarded since the first one, and the program has gone on to win several state awards.

The golf and fitness program gives at-risk youth the opportunity to participate in a sport that most would not have access to, Holland said. Additionally, Kemp coordinated with a fitness center owner who now allows students to exercise in his facility. “Students have been known to work out regularly now that they have experienced this type of life-style,” Holland said. Holland said alternative high schools often have a negative perception from members of the community who might not understand the needs of at-risk youth, but Kemp helped change that. Kemp helped create a positive relationship between students and the city’s Police Department by having them golf together. The goal was to give students a different opinion of police officers, as well as to give officers a different opinion of at-risk students. Now, the officers golf annually with the students and have lunch together afterward. The program has grown from 30 students in 2005 to 160 students this year, and now offers two post-secondary scholarships.

Kemp is on the board of directors for the Michigan Alternative Athletic Association and the Michigan Association of Community and Adult Education, as well as the association’s governmental affairs committee. Kemp was named as the Southgate Community School District’s Employee of the Year in 2007. She is now trying to develop a softball and baseball diamond behind the school and is working with the grant administrator to apply for grants and get volunteers to help with fundraising. “I am currently working with our staff on the ‘Asher Field of Dreams’project,” Kemp said. “The school has a physical education department as well as an after-school athletic program, yet it has no outdoor facilities whatsoever.” Holland said that is another example of Kemp not letting anything stand in her way. “She constantly goes above and beyond her job expectations to further the opportunities that our program offers to (students),” Holland said.

Along with her award, Kemp will receive a one-year membership to the NASPE, travel and accommodations to attend the award ceremony, meals, tickets to the banquet and free registration for a workshop during the convention.

“The greatest rewards for me come from working with those students that struggle to achieve a specific skill and finally master it,” Kemp said. “Those are the ones you remember.”

The News-Herald