Scott Smyth's extracurricular activities are many.
He plays on the Warsaw Community High School soccer and football teams, and will be on the track team in the spring. Additionally, he participates in FCA, Kosciusko Endowment Youth Services, Tiger Student Athletic Board, Peer Mentoring, Peer Tutoring, freshman mentoring and plans to be a member of Students Against Destructive Decisions.
His activities aren't limited to the local level, however, as he's started his second year of serving on the Indiana High School Athletic Association Student Advisory Committee. His involvement on that board may land him in a IHSAA commercial.
Smyth, 18, is the first WCHS student to serve on the committee. He got into it through serving on the athletic board.
According to Smyth in an interview Friday afternoon, Athletic Director Joe Santa took the athletic board down to a state student athlete conference. Smyth saw the organizers of the conference were all wearing blue polos, and he thought it would be neat to be part of the group putting the conference together.
"Little did I now they did more than that," he said.
An application to serve on the student advisory committee was on the back of a pamphlet. Only one person from each high school could apply to be on the committee, and it required the school principal's signature. Smyth was the first student to get it to WCHS Principal Troy Akers for approval.
In addition to the application, Smyth had to include a resume, making note of all his community and leadership service, activities, awards and other honors. He had to write a paragraph on what he thought he would bring to the committee and why he should be chosen over other students.
"There were a ton of applicants," Smyth said. "They narrowed it down to the top 20. There's 18 on the committee, but they were interviewing for the nine positions to fill when the seniors graduated."
Smyth was interviewed in a business formal setting, and there was a written test.
"They asked me really hard questions. Typically, I'm OK, but I really wanted to be a part of this," he said.
Two weeks later, during summer 2009, Assistant Commissioner Sandy Searcy called and told Smyth he was selected.
The committee is broken into three districts. Smyth represents District 1 and 5A schools.
According to the IHSAA website, www.ihsaa.org, "The IHSAA began sponsoring the Student Advisory Committee in 2001-02 to give the group of student-athletes hands-on experience and a voice to the IHSAA staff."
Smyth said the student advisory committee discusses the policies the executive committee of the IHSAA considers enacting.
"We talk about that. That's one of the biggest things that's stressful. They actually listen to our opinions," he said.
The committee holds four meetings throughout the year. During their meetings, they plan what they will do during their off-period, Smyth said.
"The most important thing we do is put together the state conference. Last year it was at Pike High School because they had the facilities we needed. We have speakers come in and talk about leadership and service. Each person gets to pick the classes they want to take. That takes a good amount of time to put together. We set up everything and take everything down," said Smyth.
The committee also conducts the principals' meeting where principals, athletic directors and the IHSAA commissioner may meet and discuss important issues. Smyth and Santa are going to Plymouth Monday for a meeting.
Smyth said this year the committee also is putting together a handbook for sports team captains in Indiana.
"The coolest and last thing we do is we work at the state championships every year," Smyth said.Each committee member is assigned one championship per season. Their duties include handing out awards.
When the Warsaw basketball team made it to the state championship last year, Smyth was assigned to the 5A state basketball championship. It wasn't easy to remain neutral during the game, but Smyth got to sit in the VIP room with his dad. He also was able to get the autograph of Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams.
"The talent you get to see (at the state championships) obviously is the best in Indiana," Smyth said. "It's a great experience. The members have to go to one championship for every season. It's just a great job. I love being on the board."
Because Smyth took the initiative to fill out a committee application and see it through, he said it has encouraged him to keep doing things like that.
"I hope being on the committee I can be a voice to the kids who don't know how to convey their thoughts to the IHSAA," Smyth said.
Between the football game Friday night, and a soccer game today at 2 p.m., Smyth will travel down to Indianapolis to be a finalist for a commercial. He said he understood it was part of an ad campaign for fall athletics and supporting sportsmanship.
Though he's got a lot on his plate this year, Smyth is also looking toward the future. He's applied to Indiana and Purdue universities, but his goal is to get into Duke.
"Getting into school with all the extracurriculars going on is crazy," Smyth said. "Once I'm selected for college, it will be a little less crazy."
