When Elsa Dodds was nervous about public speaking, she joined the speech team and earned a state championship. The Whitefish High School senior seems to have spent most of her high school careering jumping right into any experience.

“When I first started, I was deathly afraid of it — speaking is just a fear and I didn’t want to be afraid of it,” she said. “It’s fun to be able to push yourself.”

Dodds was a member of the speech and debate team for three years. She earned a state championship in original oratory her freshman year and has had success in both Lincoln-Douglas debate and extemporaneous speaking.

Dodds has served as student body president, president of the National Honor Society, played clarinet in the band for three years, ran cross country and is a member of STAND. In addition, she spent five months serving as a page in the U.S. Senate and went on a mission trip to Ecuador.

The daughter of Rick and Jill Dodds, she plans to attend Columbia University to study international political science.

“Politics effects everything we do,” she said. “Sometimes it’s easy to forget that with what’s going on in our small sphere. It’s nice to step back and realize there are bigger things going on that we can either watch or have an effect on.”

It was her interest in politics that led Dodds to apply to serve as a page for Montana Sen. Jon Tester. She spent September to December of her junior year living in Washington, D.C. She attended classes in the early morning and then spent the rest of her days working on the Senate floor setting up the chambers for meetings and serving as a messenger running around the Capitol.

She said the experience was “awesome.”

Meeting Sen. John McCain and then Sen. John Kerry, whom Dodds calls political “rock stars,” was a highlight of the experience. She also enjoyed spending time with the other pages, some who were from inner-city schools and others from wealthy families with political connections.

“It was fun to be independent,” she said. “I’m going to have a lot of knowledge heading into college.”

Dodds said she can see herself some day having a role in politics. However, she’d rather work behind the scenes digging into the world’s problems and doesn’t have plans to run for office herself.

“I’m not made of the sterner stuff that’s required to run,” she said. “I really like being friends with everybody.”

Dodds enjoys trying to influence her school through her activities with student council and National Honor Society. She’s proud of one project that has National Honor Society members working with the Whitefish Education Foundation to recruit businesses to sponsor classroom libraries at Muldown Elementary.

“It’s fun being able to influence the things that happen and try to make them better,” she said. “It’s fun to look back at what happened last year and try to improve things.”

Dodds recently went on a mission trip to Ecuador with Christ Lutheran Church. Volunteers spent two weeks in villages providing medical and dental care. Dodds worked with young children as part of a vacation Bible school.

Once again, Dodds was nervous before hand, but afterward she was glad she had the experience.

“It was tough, but it was so great,” she said.