Lee’s Summit North AD to receive national honor

Lee’s Summit North athletic director Mike McGurk is one of 11 high-school athletic directors who will receive the Distinguished Service Award from the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.

The award is being presented Dec. 12 to administrators from throughout the country at the NIAAA’s national conference in Phoenix.

The Distinguished Service Award is presented annually to select NIAAA members in recognition of length of service, special accomplishments and contributions to interscholastic athletics at the local, state and national levels after nominations by state athletic directors and a screening process.

McGurk, who started his career in Virgina, has worked as activities director and assistant principal at Lee’s Summit North — a school of approimately 1,900 students — since 2013. He spent five years prior to that as the activities director at Jefferson City High School.

During the past four years, he has developed a student activity advisory council to assist in the implementation of a student leadership program, designed a Rising Freshman Preview Night, and managed multiple district and sectional tournaments.

McGurk, who has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from George Mason University and a master’s degree in education leadership, served on the Missouri Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) Board of Directors and recently concluded a term as president. In that role, he began a mentoring program and led the first state association strategic plan.

Nationally, McGurk has been on the NIAAA Awards Committee since 2013 and vice-chair since 2015, helping guide student-leadership development and serving as a workshop presenter at the National Athletic Directors Conference. He’s also has had two articles published in Interscholastic Athletic Administration magazine.

This story was originally published December 12, 2017 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Lee’s Summit North AD to receive national honor."