SHS honors top local students

SANDPOINT — The world is full of benchmarks of success and as Sandpoint High School juniors and seniors look toward the future, former Bulldog Brita Olson had a message for them.

“The best thing you can do to be happy for the rest of your life is to work toward your own measures of success,” she said. “Find a place that you love and work to make it better.”

Olson is a 2011 graduate of SHS and, after graduating from the University of Idaho in 2015, went to work for a small nonprofit in Montana where she coordinates stream restoration projects. She still lives in Sandpoint, however, and was back at SHS on Monday to deliver her encouraging speech to the upcoming graduates during the school’s annual Academic Achievement Night.

“This is a great night for us to celebrate success,” SHS Principal Tom Albertson said of event. “To celebrate students here tonight who have worked hard, challenged themselves and, obviously, have very high aptitude.”

Academic Achievement Night is held each year to honor the outgoing National Honor Society members as well as inductees, to honor the junior class Top Scholars, and to present seniors with their honor cords.

As the keynote speaker, Olson started off the evening talking about her own experiences, focused particularly around a cross-country bicycle trip she and her friend planned in high school and finally took in 2017. Her speech culminated in five points. First, she said, “if you want to do something with your life, go at it with a little bit of intention and it might just work out.” For her second point, Olson told the seniors, “As smart as all of you are, chances are you are not going to be good at everything that you try — but that is no reason not to do something.” Her third and fourth points noted that even when things don’t go as planned, there are good people “all over the place,” and “sometimes it is for the best” as the place where you end up might ultimately be better than where you planned to be. As she came to her last point, Olson told the juniors and seniors in the audience to see the next step of their lives as an investment in themselves.

“In every opportunity there will be some lesson to learn, and as long as you stay open and curious, you won’t miss out,” she said.

The program then moved on to welcome and swear in the 22 NHS inductees, and honor the 25 outgoing seniors. The NHS seniors put in 1,041 hours or community service this year, and 2,659 hours of community service over the past three years.

Representing the top 10 percent of the junior class, 31 students were honored as this year’s Top Scholars. For the final portion of the evening, the 40 seniors who earned high honors were recognized for their hard work in maintaining a weighted 4.0, challenging themselves with AP courses, dual credit courses, and being involved in the school and the community. Prior to the event, each of the seniors asked a staff member to write something about them, which were then read by those staff members as each senior was called to the podium.

“You are a yardstick of quality and excellence, and can focus on both the process and the product beyond compare,” art teacher Heather Guthrie said of Alana Seifert, who was called up first as this year’s valedictorian. “Your inner voice screams a burning and courageous desire to succeed and make a difference, and for that, I honor you.”

Co-salutatorians Adele Marchiando and Chloe Braedt, along with the other 37 honorees, followed, with staff noting how exceptional, outstanding, compassionate, kind and intelligent each student is. After hearing the personal messages to each of the class of 2020s top students, Albertson made one last observation.

“There were some messages about excelling academically and getting good grades, but really it is about the relationships built,” he said. “I can not be prouder to work with a dedicated teaching staff that we have here at Sandpoint High School who go out of their way to make those connections with students. To me, that’s what makes an excellent program for students to excel in.”

- National Honor Society inductees: juniors Isabel Edwards, Shea Kilpatrick, Samuel Puckett, Cade Vernon and Bionce Vincent; sophomores Molly Balison, Mandy Brown, Ellen Clark, Katherine Mellander, Keegan Nelson, Parker Prior, Blake Puckett, Stephanie Sfeir and Madison Tuberville; and freshmen Isabelle Appl, Anna Auld, Kylie Burnett, Charli Dodd, Peyton Ennis, Gracyn House, Sophia Mikat and Maureen Wardle.

- National Honor Society seniors: Ellinor Allen, Lillian Anderson, Ryan Baumgartner, Tessa Beeman, Chloe Braedt, Niah Brass, Corinne Capodagli, Shane Curtis, Brayden Demko, Jenna Dotson, Emma Dreier, Emma Ferguson, Caleb Fingel, River Feuling, Cecelia Gedrose, Victoria Hewitt, Addilyn House, Adele Marchiando, Christina McClelland, Grace Meyer, Olivia Ramirez, Tara Rawlings, Sierra Speakman, Kieran Wilder and Sloan Woodward.

- Junior class Top Scholars: Conrad Becker, Erika Bocksch, Ixander Clerique, Catelyn Clum, Nathan Couch, Paige Davidson, Dawson Driggs, Teigen Edmundson, Isabel Edwards, Josephine Fry, Seth Graham, Hieron Kline, Autumn Lauber, Jaize-Mae Miller, Cyrus Mimbs, Kendall Mitton, Shelby Mohler, Donald Moore, Madeline Morgan, Savannah Morgan, Joseph Parsley, Angelina Peebles, Nerea Perez Martin, Jaxon Pettit, Jackson Prior, Miriam Schild, Jenny Slaveck, Jacob Suhr, Emma Unger, Bionce Vincent and Kiley Webster.

Senior honor cord recipients: Ellinor Allen, Lillian Anderson, Cole Baillie, Sofia Baronti, Ryan Baumgartner, Tessa Beeman, Chloe Braedt, Niah Brass, Corinne Capodagli, Jenna Dotson, Emma Dreier, Emma Ferguson, River Feuling, Cecelia Gedrose, Curtis Hauck, Victoria Hewitt, Grace Hicks, Addilyn House, Jezza Hutto, Alex Johnson, Jason Leedle, Adele Marchiando, Teagan Massot, Christina McClelland, Grace Meyer, Zoe Miller, Jesiah Neff, Tara Rawlings, Kelda Rial, Benjamin Robinson, Alana Seifert, Marian Soderberg, Sierra Speakman, Arianna Terry, Brennah VanCleave, Riley Walkington, Kieran Wilder, Chloe Pecha, Sloan Woodward and Zhenhao Zhong.

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