Moorhead Area Public Schools is pleased to announce that Cory Holten, who is the Horizon Middle School activities director in addition to serving as assistant principal for Horizon East, recently earned an elite national distinction as an athletic administrator. The National Interscholastic Athletics Administrators Association (NIAAA) awarded Holten the Certified Master Athletic Administrator certification—the organization's highest endorsement
To achieve this certification, Holten met rigorous requirements including athletic administrator experience, completion of high-level coursework and submission of a graduate-level written or oral project to the NIAAA board.
“It’s a cool honor to be considered alongside individuals who are doing some of the best work in the field of athletic administration and activities administration,” said Holten, who has been the activities director for both Horizon campuses since 2022. “To be recognized both for my experience and for the product I presented feels good, and it will feel even better if other schools are able to make use of my work.”
Holten’s project mirrored the one he completed to earn his Doctor of Education degree in August of 2024 from the University of North Dakota: the RISE (Responsive Interventions for Student Eligibility) System. RISE is a three-tiered intervention system that offers increasing support to students participating in activities who are struggling academically.
With the support of his fellow school administrators, Holten implemented RISE at Horizon and found success in helping students restore and maintain their academic eligibility.
“RISE has been a really effective tool for our kids to build some skills and habits that they need to be successful,” explained Holten. “The success comes from helping a lot of these students clear F’s off of their report cards.”
Because of the project’s success, the NIAAA will now make Holten’s handbook available to schools nationwide that may be interested in implementing it. To learn more about RISE at Horizon, please view the RISE guidelines for the 2025-26 school year.