This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Schools

Plymouth's Taylor Birman Wins Scholar-Athlete Award

Senior holds 4.14 GPA while excelling at basketball and lacrosse.

senior Taylor Birman will be preparing the Wildcats girls basketball team to take on Northville tonight in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association tournament. 

She’ll also be receiving plenty of congratulations as she was named a Michigan High School Athletic Association scholar-athlete award winner today.

“She’s such a hard-worker and it’s nice to see her get rewarded,” said Lori Birman, Taylor’s mother. “It’s an honor just to be a finalist, but she was really happy to win.”

Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Taylor has maintained a 4.14 GPA while serving as a captain on both the varsity basketball team and the varsity lacrosse team.

Birman attributes much of her success to her faith. 

Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Cantonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“It’s more of a relationship than a religion,” she said. “It’s my personal relationship with Christ that’s gotten me through this and made me who I am.”

Taylor is not the first in her family to be associated with the award. Jordon Birman, now a freshman at Michigan State University, was nominated for the award last year.

“He was the Plymouth athlete of the year,” Taylor said. “He has his name on the wall and I’ll have my name on the wall, but I’ll also have my picture on the wall.”

Taylor said she hasn’t had a chance to give her brother any ribbing over her accomplishment.

“I haven’t rubbed it in,” she said. “Our parents are really proud. They like to brag about us.”

Bob de Bear is in his first year coaching the Plymouth girls basketball team, but he is glad to have Birman on the squad.

“Her biggest contribution is her leadership,” he said. “We’ve got a young team, only two seniors, and those kids learn a lot of life lessons from her.”

Bear said that while Birman doesn’t lead the team in scoring or rebounds, she contributes in every category.

“She’s just a real solid player,” he said. “She does all the little stuff. She’s a really good defensive player. She’s just one of those unsung-type players.”

Birman believes she’s even better at lacrosse than basketball.

“I think I’m more skilled at lacrosse,” she said. “I only started playing as a sophomore, but I have more natural talent in lacrosse.”

Birman is thinking about attending Michigan State University, but is “officially undecided.”

She is in competition for an alumni-distinguished-scholarship award at MSU.

One of the things Lori likes about her daughter’s education at the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park is it provides good preparation for the college atmosphere.

P-CEP is the home of Canton, Plymouth and Salem High Schools.

“There are 7,500 kids at the park,” Lori Birman said. “That really prepares them for the larger campus setting.”

Both Jordon and Taylor have taken advantage of advanced-placement classes, which have allowed them to get a head start on their college educations.

“Jordon went in as a sophomore and Taylor is on the cusp of being a sophomore,” Lori said. “That’s another one of the advantages of the Park.”

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?