Local Student Honored with Georgia Assembly Resolution

After a very late night of debating and passing resolutions at the capitol Thursday night as the 2011 legislative session ended, Tucker-area Representative Scott Holcomb had one more resolution to present Friday morning.  This one was a resolution in honor of Michael Dunbar, a 5th-grader at Evansdale Elementary School, who won USA Today's national essay contest on sportsmanship.

At the beginning of Evansdale Elementary School's annual CRCT pep rally, Representative Holcomb presented Dunbar with the certificate, which commends him for his excellence and wishes him the best of luck in the future.  During the presentation, Holcomb spoke about the importance of good sportsmanship and how it's great to win, but it's even more important to be gracious and positive when you don't.  He complimented Dunbar on his "very well written" essay and his impressive attitude and outlook on life.

"I'm very proud of Micheal Dunbar for his terrific essay on sportsmanship.  He sets a great example for other kids to follow -- play hard and play to win, but if you come up short, hold your head high and congratulate your opponent," he said.

Fifth-grade students at Evansdale participated in the essay contest, which was part of the National Sportsmanship Day "Dare to Play Fair" program, founded and administered by the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island.  Michael's essay was chosen as the elementary-level national winner.

You can read his complete essay here, along with those of the middle-school, high-school, and college-level winners, but here are some highlights:

When speaking of a conversation about good sportsmanship with his dad, he said, "I think this is what's missing in today's world of sports and life. We need to be reminded more often of the importance of being a good sport — both on and off the field."

"Sportsmanship is needed on and off the field, at home, in the classroom and even at your job (so my parents tell me). No matter how old you are, we all need to be reminded of what it feels like to win and lose. It's easy to be a good sport when you're racking up a bunch of 'W's.' The real test is when you take a loss, or two, or three. Don't get me wrong. I'm not perfect and neither is my Dad, but we've both come a long way. So let's all do our part to stop bad sportsmanship … before it stops us!"