Keithen Shepard has always been a talent in the classroom and in athletic competition, a straight-A student who is expects to graduate from Union High School with seven varsity letters.
It all just made perfect sense to Shepard when he heard of a program designed to intertwine high school athletes and the people who organize high school sports.
Keithen Shepard took a LEAP, and he landed in the offices of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
Shepard is an ambassador of sorts, a member of the Leadership through Education, Activities, and Personal Development committee at the WIAA.
“You get to meet a lot of kids who are into sports as much as you are,” Shepard said. “They are getting us to give our opinion. Talk to our school and go back to them. Get the student voice out there. ‘Here’s what I’m hearing.’ ”
The WIAA typically selects four boys and four girls who are entering their junior year of high school to be in the program for two years. That means there are always 16 students, representing a variety of sports and activities, as well as different classifications.
“We talk about the stuff the WIAA is talking about,” Shepard said.
Eligibility. Fundraising. Tournament formats.
That last one is a big one for Shepard. As a basketball standout, Shepard is very aware of the recent changes to the state basketball tournaments. Beginning this winter, 12 teams will reach the final destination in each classification, up from eight in recent years but not the 16-team, double-elimination format that was part of Washington’s postseason prior to 2011.
While he and the students with LEAP had no official role in the changes, they were asked for their input.
That was an eye-opening experience, Shepard said.
“I didn’t realize how much went into it, how much debate went into it,” he said.
Now in his second and final year with LEAP, Shepard said he has a greater appreciation for the state’s governing body of high school sports. The WIAA, he said, puts a tremendous amount work into the playoff scenarios, figuring out budgets, while at the same time trying to appease athletic directors, principals, and coaches — people who are not always on the same page.
As a junior, his first year with LEAP, he and his colleagues were tasked with trying to improve the basketball tournament. The 16 students were having the same issues the WIAA and schools were having when dealing with the issue.
“There’s no definite solution to the problems they are talking about,” Shepard said. “It was tough. It’s hard to make everybody happy.”
The LEAP students meet five times a school year, plus there is a summer retreat.
There were a lot of “ice-breakers” in the first meeting, Shepard recalled.
“They want you to share ideas and talk so they want you to be comfortable with one another.”
Getting to know the other students has been one of the biggest benefits of the program, he added.
“I realized how diverse a state we live in,” Shepard said. “There are schools with 50 kids in their high school. That’s amazing. And they’re amazed when they talk to me and hear we have 2,200 in our high school.”
That also was another reminder of what the WIAA must consider when organizing tournaments. What is good for a 4A program might not be good for a 1A program or a 1B program.
Andy Knapp, the WIAA’s director of marketing, took over the LEAP program in 2008, a year after it started. He wants committee members to give adults within the WIAA a better understanding of “what it’s like being a high school student in Washington right now.”
At the most recent LEAP meeting, the committee discussed timely subjects such as more forfeits in football games and athletes taking a knee during the national anthem.
“We want them to check in with each other, see how those issues are being discussed in their communities,” Knapp said.
Committee members also are trying to come up with a survey for all students to take. The committee, and the WIAA, wants to know what motivates students to attend high school sporting events.
Knapp said he has enjoyed watching Shepard grow into a bigger role, from a quiet, reserved member as a junior to a vocal leader now.
Shepard became a LEAP member by writing a personal essay and producing a video. Knapp said there were 110 applicants for eight spots this past year.
Of course, Shepard has all the values the WIAA wants to promote. He will have earned three varsity letters each in football and basketball, and one in track and field. Plus he carries a weighted grade-point average of 4.5. He is talking to Ivy League schools for college and is interested in MIT.
Shepard also enjoys representing his school, while traveling for college visits, at sporting competitions, or at the WIAA offices in Renton for LEAP meetings.
“Everyone here wants to win,” Shepard said of Union. “All the coaches are so dedicated to us. They put so much into us. You can be really successful here if you put in the work. It’s pretty special.”
For the past year and for the rest of this school year, Shepard will be boasting about Union to the rest of the state. At the same time, he will be listening to what it’s like to attend a 1B school, for example.
And he will be encouraged to give his opinion.
All part of the job for a high school student on a special committee.
