The purpose of this Association shall be to promote, facilitate, and oversee all interscholastic athletic activities provided for public high school students; to establish, maintain, and enforce such regulations as may be necessary to assure that all such activities shall be part of and contribute toward the entire educational program of the State of Maryland; to cooperate closely with the State Department of Education in the development of that program, and to safeguard the physical, mental, and moral welfare of high school students and to protect them from exploitation.