the
&
december 07
black white
special edition
Exercising equality through Title IX
T
hirty-five years ago, Congress passed a legislation that included Title IX of the Education Amendments. Although the original statute did not mention anything about athletics, Title IX now serves as the most important piece of legislation for female athletes. In 1979, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare announced a policy clarification for Title IX. This interpretation stated that a school must provide an equal amount of athletic opportunities for “the underrepresented gender.” Before Title IX was introduced, 294,015 high school girls played sports. However, in 2001, according to www.titleix. info, 2,784,154 girls partook in high school athletics. The adoption of Title IX is to thank for this 800 percent increase in participation. In light of the volleyball team’s recent state championship, The Black & White is taking time to celebrate our female athletes and their accomplishments.
The volleyball team captured the 2007 4-A state championship. Read about the squad on page two.
At last year’s state competition, bowling placed third. Kayla Schmidt was the individual runner-up.
In 2006, the Dragons made the state basketball tournament for the first time in more than 50 years.
The girls’ soccer team has made a trip to the state tournament three of the last four years.
For complete coverage of each girls’ team, including track, golf and tennis, see page four.
Spread by Kari Dockum, editor-in-chief