IESA Headlines

Steve Endsley Named Chair of NFHS Citizenship Committee

IESA Executive Director Steve Endsley has been named chairman of the NFHS Citizenship Committee and will assume those duties at the Jan. 29-30, 2006, meeting in the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) office in Indianapolis.

Endsley, the Illinois Elementary School Association Executive Director since 1996, will serve a four-year term as chair of the 16-member committee. He was appointed to the chair by the NFHS Board of Directors.

The NFHS is the national service and administrative organization of interscholastic athletics and activities. It is composed primarily of state high school athletic and/or activity associations. Every state in America has an organization governing the high school interscholastic athletic and activity programs conducted by its member schools. The IESA is affiliated with the NFHS and is the nation's only athletic and activity organization of grade, middle and junior high schools.

The NFHS Citizenship Committee was established in 1998. Its mission "is to assist member state associations in developing quality citizens through participation in interscholastic athletics and activities which are a vital part of the educational process. In partnership with the school/community, the laboratory of competition will provide life-long learning opportunities for participants to become citizens who provide positive contributions to their schools, workplaces and society."

Endsley is the only person currently to chair a NFHS committee who is from a statewide organization other than a state high school association. The Federation, founded in 1920 and first headquartered in the Chicago area, has 28 standing committees.