EPHRATA - High school students have a choice, when they're picking classes. They can go the easier route, just take the necessary classes and skate. Or they can take up the challenge, the difficult subjects, the classes and activities that take them out of their comfort zone.

Yaneli Salgado and Melissa Nelson, both part of the Ephrata High School class of 2013 graduating on June 11, chose the challenge, chose to go outside their comfort zone. And they said it paid off.

Ephrata offers some college-credit classes, and one option for Salgado was college-level English. It would mean giving up a class in art, her favorite subject and the career she plans to pursue, to concentrate on the college class. A little scary, a little intimidating.

She chose the English class. "Which was really big for me," she said. It was the prospect of the challenge that decided her, she said. That was also the motivation behind the college history class she took as a senior. That was even more challenging "because history is not my thing," she said.

She passed them both. "I kind of surprised myself," Yaneli said. And there was room in senior year for an art class.

Nelson said she had some trouble, back in grade school, getting some of the reading down. So she made a resolution. "I decided to over achieve," she said.

In high school she joined the debate team and qualified for honor choir, was active in Key Club and National Honor Society. "Oh, and I do swim team. I just like doing things," she said.

Nelson also took that college-level history class. It's part of the challenge.

That's important, Melissa said, because accepting the challenges, even if they don't work out, is a way to learn what she can do. It will be something that employers look for, when the time comes to apply for jobs, she said. "You tried to succeed and that's what's important to you. And they (employers) will appreciate that."

Challenge is difficult and it's stressful, Salgado said. But it's rewarding. "It helps you grow and learn. And it's important to challenge yourself. If you have an opportunity, why not take it?"

Taking the challenge can open up totally unexpected opportunities, and Nelson used herself as an example. She's planning to major in international relations and political science when she goes to college at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg. "I learned that I really enjoy political science after I joined debate team," she said.

Nelson's goal is to work for an international humanitarian organization. Salgado plans to attend the University of Washington, majoring in digital communications and web design. She's already a successful graphic designer. Her design was chosen as the new logo for the Splash Zone, Ephrata's pool.