The Canton school system has had an uproar of success within athletics in the past years. This success is shown through team records and recent runs in the state tournaments. While there has been recognition of these achievements, it has only been in respect of the entire team. Individual athletes deserve the same recognition.
That being said, the school as a whole has neglected recognition for individual athletes. Now I’m not talking about athletes who play individual sports, because they gain as much recognition as teams of multiple people. My primary focus is on individuals who excel within the setting of a team sport.
Most team sports have individual marks that show excellence within that sport. CHS has banners marking these accomplishments for basketball and wrestling. Basketball has a 1,000-point scorer banner (see above) while wrestling has a 100 career win banner. The goal of this equal recognition initiative is to get comparable banners for sports like soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball, and field hockey, all sports with measurable accolades but none of them celebrated in the same way.
The main point of contention within this initiative is the funding. Where the money would come from, how much money this project would cost, and how often it would need to be redone or updated? Canton public schools publish a budget for every school year, Within this budget there is an allotted amount of money set aside for awards. The funding for these banners would come out of the portion of the budget. There would be a one-time overall cost of $250, there would then be a recurring cost of $80 for name and year upgrades. These upgrades however will likely be once every few years at the most frequent. Overall this project is not an absurd cost and can easily be budgeted in from the preexisting funds.
When browsing through the Canton public schools website under the athletics portion, you can go to and view the page titled Championship Tradition. This page describes all of the championships that have been won in Canton’s athletics history. It goes sport by sport and lists the year to give recognition to the teams and athletes. This page however does not touch on the individuals within the team sports. It lists teams that have won their conference, won their state, and even won New England. These same accolades are achievable by the individuals in these sports; however, athletes can make the All-Conference team, All-State team, and even the All-American team, but there is no recognition given.
Overall to ensure equal recognition between all athletes canton needs to prioritize the recognition of individual athletes within team sports. They can ensure this happens by accepting my project proposal for banners along with the proposed budget. Also by making it a point to keep up with the upkeep and updates of the banners.
