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Houa Thao Named Stacy Robinson Leadership Award Winner

By MN Chapter of the National Football Foundation, 04/14/17, 5:15PM CDT

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN - April 14, 2017 - The Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation is pleased to announce Harding Senior High School student Houa Thao as the 2017 recipient of the Stacy Robinson Leadership Award. He will accept the award at the 10 Year Anniversary of the Minnesota Honors at U.S. Bank on May 7.

Thao has stood out in athletics, academics and leadership during his time at Harding. On the gridiron, he played guard and center for the Knights. Thao served as a team captain during his senior season and strove to be a leader he himself would want to follow. To help accomplish this goal, he attended the Sanneh Foundation’s Captain’s Camp to learn more leadership and communication skills. Thao attended this camp during school hours although he knew it would take hard work to make up the class materials he missed.

As a member of the Tri-M (Modern Music Masters) Honor Society, Thao contributed community service hours as well as working on his musical skills in band. In a fundraiser to provide Thanksgiving dinners for Harding families who could afford them, Thao and his group presented the cause to their peers are were able to raise the most money of all the groups in helping Tri-M reach its overall goal. For another fundraiser to help pay for a fellow student’s father’s funeral, Thao woke up early to play his trombone with his bandmates and collect money in the hallways at school.

Thao is a member of College Possible as he works toward his higher education goals of majoring in social work at Augsburg College. He is an “A” honor roll student. Being part of Harding’s College Possible food drive helped him gain skills in communicating with people he didn’t know, and work with a team to collect the food.

The 10 Year Anniversary of the Minnesota Football Honors will be held Sunday, May 7, 2017 at U.S. Bank Stadium. College and professional football Hall of Fame inductees are scheduled to attend to celebrate the best of Minnesota football. The largest football awards event in the state is presented by the Minnesota Vikings. The event is open to the public. To register or find additional information about this year’s Minnesota Football Honors, please visit www.minnesotafootballhonors.com. For sponsorship information, please email lindsay@nffmn.org.

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About the Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation:
The Minnesota Chapter of The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a local non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and develop the power of amateur football in developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive spirit and academic excellence in Minnesota’s young people. The MN Chapter recognizes legendary football icons, college football Hall of Famers and Minnesota’s top high school and college football scholar athletes. For more information, visit www.nffmn.org, Facebook or Twitter.

Contact:
Lindsay Lommel, Event Manager
MN Chapter of The National Football Foundation
lindsay@nffmn.org