Presenting the 2025 KC Star Scholar-Athletes, and how we determined winners
You hear us say it every spring/summer:
The Kansas City Star’s annual High School Scholar-Athlete awards program, recognizing the achievements of outstanding local young people in partnership with the Kansas City Royals, is one of the coolest things we do.
The caliber of nominees is always staggering. And we don’t take lightly the responsibility of reviewing them.
Today’s presentation of The Star’s 2025 Scholar-Athletes — Olathe North’s Jaalan Watson and Belton’s Louise Juitt, plus dozens of other honorees (one from each high school around the metro) — culminates a process that included three rounds of intense judging.
As always, each of the 100 high schools within The Star’s coverage area was invited to submit up to three nominees apiece. Most did. Each nomination included a personalized portfolio of athletic skills, academic and other achievements and faculty endorsements.
This year’s first round of Scholar-Athlete judging was carried out by members of The Star’s newsroom. They whittled the field to one winner per school before handing off these semifinalists to a second group of judges tasked with determining two top 10s: one for the boys, one for the girls.
The portfolios of these top 10s, our 2025 Scholar-Athlete semifinalists, were then placed into the hands of a panel of final judges. Taking part in that capacity this year were: Royals pitcher and Stanford grad Kris Bubic; Sporting KC goalkeeper John Pulskamp and players from the NFL’s Chiefs and NWSL’s KC Current.
Nominated student-athletes were evaluated 45% for their athletic prowess and accomplishments, 35% on academic achievements, 10% on participation in activities apart from sports and academics (such as community service and student government) and 10% for overall impact on their respective school’s environment.
Variances in class size and rank, as well as size and competitiveness of their schools’ respective athletic leagues and conferences, were also carefully considered.
Within today’s pages of The Star and online at kansascity.com, you’ll learn about our overall winners as well as each participating school’s winner. You’ll also see who else was nominated from each participating campus.
The overall male and female winners earn special trophies recognizing their accomplishments and invitations to throw out a first pitch before a Royals game at Kauffman Stadium. All of this year’s school winners get tickets to that game and special certificates of achievement.
Before you check out this year’s honorees, please join us in congratulating each nominee and thanking those whose volunteer time and effort made it possible for The Star to once again honor some of our region’s brightest young people.
These up-and-comers are embarking on the exciting next stages of their lives, but they won’t soon be forgotten for their indelible impact across the metro.