FBCS teens graduate NIC

SANDPOINT — Along with their classmates, four seniors at Forrest Bird Charter School are looking forward to graduation.

Of course, by the time graduation takes place in a month, it will be old hat for the quartet — Sarah Warren, Eleanore Mearns, Carissa Lonzisero and Alden Bansemer — who received their associate’s degrees from North Idaho College on Friday.

"It takes a lot of time management," Lonzisero said. "You have to have some sacrifices to do your classes, but it was worth it for me."

Warren, Mearns and Lonzisero began taking high school courses when they were still in eighth grade at FBCS. The trio said they pretty much finished up their high school work by the end of their sophomore year, allowing them to concentrate on college courses for the past two years through NIC's dual credit program. Bansemer came to FBCS his sophomore year and was already enrolled at NIC at that time.

The girls will each receive an associate of the arts degree in general studies, with Bansemer receiving an associate of science degree in computer science.

After all her hard work for the past four years, Warren said she will be taking a gap year, initially travelling to Europe, with two more possible trips to follow.

"One is going back to Europe — I am looking at volunteering at some orphanages in Romania — and the other is to Ethiopia with our eighth-grade social studies teacher to volunteer at an orphanage that someone local here owns," Warren said.

In addition to working at Forty-One South, Warren has volunteered locally at Bonner General Health and Farmin-Stidwell Elementary where her father is a teacher. After her travels, Warren plans to attend the University of Montana and major in forensic anthropology.

Mearns said she was recently admitted to the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and plans to get a master's degree in meteorology and atmospheric sciences. While she has always been interested in the sciences, she said it took her awhile to figure out what she wanted to specialize in until she realized she was "passionate" about the environment and, more specifically, the arctic environment. Mearns said she would like to someday become a glaciologist. Mearns served as FBCS student body president two years ago and was the Distinguished Young Women spirit winner her junior year.

Lonzisero is heading to the University of Montana in the fall to get a bachelor's degree in finance before going on to get her master's degree. As the first 4.0 GPA dual credit graduate of FBCS, Lonzisero has received two scholarships, with academic advisor Mitzi Vesecky hinting that she received a third one as well. She has served as a sophomore representative on student council and she is active in ballet and skiing.

In an email to the Daily Bee, as he was unable to attend the interview due to finals, Bansemer said he intends to transfer to the University of Utah to pursue their specialized game development program. With the help of his parents, Bansemer said he created an LLC called Knoban in 2017. Knoban specializes in game development and it’s kept him self employed for the past nine months. After attaining his bachelor's and master's degrees, he plans to use his game development education to expand Knoban and bring the ideas of himself and others to life, he said.

When he does have some off time, Bansemer said he enjoys playing League of Legends, and is currently "rocking an 18-game win streak on the character Janna." Bansemer also had a few words of insight for anyone wanting to graduate high school with a college degree:

"You don’t have to be smart to get a college degree in high school, but you do need an outstanding work ethic," he said. "Be prepared to sacrifice afternoons, weekends, holidays, breaks, and summers to get your degree. It’s not easy, but anyone can do it with the right mindset."

While the girls have been involved in some of the big high school events, such as prom, they said they did sacrifice much of the high school experience, activities, and time with friends.

"It definitely helped that we had each other," Mearns said.

Hillary Dececchis, district office coordinator, said ever since she watched the group enter the high school, they have been focused and "knew what they wanted." Vesecky said it has been "awesome" to watch the group succeed through their high school and college career, summing up their achievements with one word — "incredible."

Principal Mary Jensen said college suited them better than high school because of their maturity.

"One of the things that impresses me was their drive and their vision when they were still in seventh and eighth grade, knowing this is what they wanted," Jensen said. "And I knew when they were talking about it that they were going to get it ... They never backed down. They were courageous and persistent the whole way."

For the FBCS graduation on June 9, which will be held in the Panida Theater this year, the four students will wear their maroon NIC gowns with their dark blue FBCS caps.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @MaryDailyBee.