Trenton Teacher Honored for Community Efforts, Coaching

In the last year, Trenton teacher Aaron Segedi received the Service Before Self and the Paul Harris awards from the City of Trenton and the Assistant Coach of the Year award from the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association.

Segedi, 36, a teacher at Boyd W. Arthurs Middle School, was featured in articles on the Trenton-Grosse Ile Patch, Huffington Post Magazine and Athletic Management Magazine. He was also invited to sit in on a podcast for FootballCoachingPodcast.com.

Through all of the recognition and national notoriety, Segedi said he remains focused on the idea that put his name on the tips of the tongues of hundreds of high school coaches across the country--Victory Day.

Since Segedi created Victory Day in 2009, his idea has inspired eight other high schools to schedule their own Victory Day for 2013, and hundreds of high schools and colleges, nationwide, have begun to show interest in his idea.

Victory Day is a community event where area special needs children get an opportunity to play football, score touchdowns and kick field goals on the football field at Trenton High School, while area student athletes, referees, announcers, audience members and cheerleaders provide a game-like atmosphere.

Last year, former Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr attended the event and commented on Segedi's high level of commitment to his community.

High schools and colleges across the country have begun paying to fly Segedi to their schools to speak to their coaches and share ideas about their own potential Victory Day.

"I’ve been getting call after call from coaches asking me how to do this (Victory Day), Segedi said.

Segedi recently returned from Ocean City, MD where he spoke at a clinic among several hundred highs school coaches, many of whom had already heard about Victory Day by reading about it in the magazine articles.

"Its been really a humbling experience, talking to coaches and sharing my story," Segedi said. "I'm dumbfounded with how it's spread on the east coast."

Segedi's idea has garnered the attention of sporting goods giant Nike, who provided jerseys and footballs to all participants last year and have agreed to continue to sponsor the event in the near future.

The fouth annual Victory Day is scheduled for noon Sept. 14, 2013 at Trenton High School.

Look to Trenton-Grosse Ile Patch for more on Victory Day 2013 including information on sponsors, participants and Trenton students.

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