2023 | Florida | COED

American Heritage | Patriots | COED

I would like to nominate Grace Perkins for the Hobey Baker Character Award.

The Hobey Baker Character Award is tailor made to describe Grace Perkins. Grace is an accomplished, award winning figure skater, but it is not for her figure skating prowess that she merits this award.

In ninth grade, Grace joined the Varsity Ice Hockey team. Although she already possessed superior skating skills, she had never played ice hockey before. Both figure skating and ice hockey require skating proficiency, but they are applied in entirely different ways. Therefore, Grace had to adapt her skating from the graceful moves of a figure skater to the speed and grit of ice hockey.

The Florida Panther’s Scholastic Hockey League (FPSHL), which runs the high school hockey league for all of south Florida under the direction of SAHOF and USA Hockey, is a co-ed league. Unlike many northern states, where there are active women’s hockey leagues, in South Florida, ice hockey remains a male dominated sport. The high school league plays under the same contact rules as any U18 hockey league. Next to football, I do not think there is another varsity sport that involves as much full contact as ice hockey. In this tough, physical and gritty environment, Grace stands out from her peers, both male and female. She continually pushes herself and her determination has reaped great dividends for herself and for her team.

Grace has not only become a valued member of the varsity team, she has emerged into a leadership position, being named Alternate Captain of the team in her junior and senior year. The Alternate Captain has a leadership role both with respect to the individual team players as well as for the entire team while on the ice during games. In a very real sense, being named a team captain is not only a position of honor, but is a recognition of maturity and leadership which allows her to represent the coach and the team. There is no better demonstration of leadership and empowerment than being given this special position of trust and authority by the coach. As one of only a handful of female players in the league, I believe she is the only one to be named a captain.

Additionally, Grace maintains an outstanding academic record and is the only representative of American Heritage in the FPSHL Leadership Academy. The leadership academy accepts one or two academically advanced players from each school. Academy members attend monthly seminars and lectures on leadership styles, public speaking, writing, collegiate academics and career advancement. They also form teams to perform community service. It gives the best and brightest from various high schools an opportunity to join together in career, scholastic and leadership studies.

In reading the criteria for the Hobey Baker Character award, Grace Perkins is the epitome of those qualities. This is a recognition and an award she richly deserves.