Sandpoint High trio honored as top students

SANDPOINT — In Latin, valedictorian means “farewell sayer.” To deliver this farewell address at graduation is one of the highest honors a high school senior can have.

As the Sandpoint High School seniors prepare to don their caps and gowns in June, Alana Seifert will deliver the farewell address as valedictorian, along with co-salutatorians Chloe Braedt and Adele Marchiando.

“It is always a really tough decision, but these three students just persevered, challenged themselves with a lot of AP courses, and that kind of led to the overall GPA of them being valedictorian and co-salutatorians,” said SHS Principal Tom Albertson. “There are a lot of deserving students, but they kind of set themselves apart by the number of courses they’ve taken and the challenging courses they’ve taken.”

SHS is in the second year of a 32-credit system to determine the valedictorian and salutatorian honors. The 32 credits are a combination of English, math, science, world language and social studies credits, as well as five semester credits of their choosing. Comparing the students on the same 32 credits “equalizes the playing field,” Albertson said, and encourages students to take classes that interest them, even if they are not advanced placement or dual credit courses.

All three students said they were excited to be honored as the top students in their senior class.

“It’s also important to recognize other students who have worked just as hard as I have ... but yeah, I’m excited,” Braedt said. “It’s nice getting a title or label for all my hard work. It’s kind of paid off.”

Being at the top of her class, Seifert said she wasn’t too surprised when she found out she is valedictorian, and agreed with Braedt that it is nice to be recognized for her hard work throughout high school.

As the students look to the future, Seifert said she has applied to a number of colleges, so she is not quite sure where she wants to go yet. She will be able to narrow it down after April 1, she said, when the colleges make their decisions. And while she also has not made a final decision on her major, she is looking into government or political science. She plans to minor in art for sure, she said.

“It is a fun hobby to have,” Seifert said of art. “It is not something I would want to do full time, but it is definitely something I enjoy.”

Some of her favorite classes include history and government, though the teacher who has had the biggest impact on her was Spanish teacher Mary Imaz.

“The way she takes the time to be kind to every student, no matter whether they are in her class or not,” Seifert said. “It is not a requirement for teachers to act a certain way toward their students other than polite, so she goes that extra mile to be genuinely kind and take interest in each student.”

Seifert has been in tennis since her freshman year and is team captain this year, though she broke her leg in November. While she is no longer in a brace or boot, she said, she can’t play quite yet. She was also on the swim team her freshman year.

Braedt said “ideally” she would like to attend Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., next year. She visited the city a couple times, she said, and fell in love with its beauty. She is also attracted to Portland because it is “really progressive,” as well as environmentally sustainable, she said. Braedt said she won’t know until April 1 whether she got in to Lewis and Clark, but if she doesn’t get accepted, she will likely go to Willamette University in Salem, Ore. Wherever she goes to college, Braedt plans to major in environmental studies and political science.

“I had a really good environmental science teacher, Mr. Hastings, and he really inspired me, as well as probably all his students, to really care about the environment and want to make a difference,” Braedt said, adding that she is currently taking AP government at SHS. “I want to, in the future, be able to take action — specifically political action — and have a voice in a community to protect the environment and conserve our resources.”

Braedt is also the captain of the SHS cross country and track teams. Track season is now underway, she said, with the first meet in two weeks. She has been doing track and cross country since her freshman year, she said, and “loves” running.

Marchiando has enjoyed acting since she was in eighth grade, and is involved in the high school’s theater program. She is currently serving as the student assistant director in the upcoming production of “Annie,” which will be held around the end of April. Her favorite class, however, is Academic Decathlon, as she enjoys the interdisciplinary aspect of it, and it has helped with her interviewing and speech-giving skills, she said. Her team is preparing to go to state this month.

“It’s exciting, stressful — we are ready to crush it,” Marchiando said of the AcaDeca competition.

She has been involved in AcaDeca since she was a freshman, and last year, she and the SHS team went to nationals. Marchiando was awarded bronze in speech and interview, and gold in the essay category with the second-highest essay score at the national competition, she said.

Marchiando has applied to several colleges including Northwestern University in Chicago, Washington University in St. Louis, and Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. She plans to major in engineering, though the specific field of engineering she chooses depends on the school she ultimately ends up going to. She has been accepted to WPI, she said, and is waiting to hear back from the other schools before making a final decision. All three seniors said they are planning to visit colleges during spring break. However, it is difficult to make travel plans, they said, as they are not sure which colleges they will be accepted to.

Marchiando was recently named a National Merit Scholar, putting her among the top 15,000 students in the nation. She is also a candidate in the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, which recognizes and honors some of the nation’s most distinguished graduating students.

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