Area students earn Elks honors for academic achievement

Sandpoint Elks Lodge No. 1376 has announced students of the month for the last couple of months for the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

To be selected as an Elks student of the month, students must meet guidelines for character, citizenship, service, scholarship and leadership.

The Elks actively seek to reward youth through many different programs including scholarship awards, Hoop Shoot tournaments, dictionary donations to third graders, drug awareness programs and many other activities and programs.

Sandpoint Elks Lodge award thousands of dollars in scholarships and local students also received an additional money in state and national Elk scholarships. The Elks are the third largest awarder of scholarships in the county and several students have received large scholarships from the state and national level of Elks.

Among those honored were Niah Brass, Alex Johnson, Kieran Nyal Wilder, Cecelia Gedrose, Doshianique Beltran, Jordan Dick, Kaylee Brown, and Jason Leedle.

- Kaylee Brown

The daughter of daughter of Mike Brown and Amber Chapin, Kaylee Brown was selected as a Elks Student of the Month at Lake Pend Oreille High School for January.

Kaylee Brown has spent five years at LPO and will graduate mid-term.

During that time, she has improved her grade point average remarkably and maintained her status on the honor roll both last year and this school year.

Her primary focus is on service to the community such as Earth Day cleanup and fundraising endeavors to support school extracurricular activities. No task is too small for her, school officials said.

At LPOHS, Brown has done everything from stacking wood, growing petunias in the school greenhouse for Mother’s Day, wrapping Christmas gifts, and glazing ornaments for the Christmas Fair as part of her dedication to giving back to others.

She also is a willing volunteer at the school, assisting in the office, library and with art projects. She recently received a certificate from Mountain West Bank for financial literacy and has been selected numerous times as school Student of the Month for her responsibility, respect and determination.

“These admirable traits will serve her well in the future as she pursues her vocational goal to assist her family in their property management business,” said Sandy Lange. “We at LPO are proud of Kaylee. She is deserving of this award.”

- Jason Leedle

The son of Brent and Barbara Leedle, Jason Leedle was named an Elks Student of the Month at Sand-point High School for January.

He has a 4.274 grade point average and is ranked 19th out of the 206 students in his class.

He is a member of the cross country, earning his varsityletter, and lacross teams as well as the jazz band.

- Niah Whitney Brass

The daughter of Angie and Mathew Brass, Niah Brass was an Elks Student of the Month at Sand-point High School for January.

Niah Brass is a four-year runner on the Sandpoint High School girls varsity cross country team and this past season (2018), she was a captain.

As a part of this team in the last four years, Brass said the Bulldogs have achieved four consecutive regional team titles and individual medals.

In addition, she also ran varsity track for the last three years of high school and was regional champion in 3200m last spring. She plans to run track this spring and willl serve as a captain on the team. Brass is a member of the National Honors Society and enjoys volunteering with the youth in the community as well.

She plans on studying in the environmental sciences next fall at either Montana State University, or the University of Idaho.

“I’m thankful to have been able to grow up in such an amazing place with a wonderful, supporting community,” she said.

She has earned at 4.31 weighted grade point average and 4.0 unweighted. She is ranked eighth in her class.

- Kieran Nyal Wilder

The son of Nancy Wilder-Williams and David Wilder, Kieran was named an Elks Student of the Month for Febru-ary at Sand-point High School.

He participated in cross country and track all four years of his high school career and was a team captain his senior year. Kieran Wilder was recognized as the Sandpoint September athlete of the month for cross country and received the athlete scholar award for maintaining the highest GPA on his varsity team.

In addition, he was a member of the National Honors Society his junior and senior years and actively participated in community service and volunteer work — mainly for the Panhandle Alliance for Education.

Wilder also was a member of the Sustainability Club at the high school, and won first place in the award for climate awareness from the Idaho Forest Group.

He maintained a 4.2 GPA and is ranked 22 in his class.

- Doshianique Beltran

A senior at Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School, Doshian-ique Beltran was named the Elks Student of the Month for February at the school.

Due to family trouble, she was taken out of school for a whole academic year.

How-ever, school officials said that, with great perseverance, Doshianique pushed through obstacles in her personal life.

In addition, she has taken extra classes during the past summers and school years and will technically graduate from high school in three years instead of four.

School officials noted that Beltran completed 10 college credits through NIC’s dual credit program, and is taking another 10 college credits through the dual credit program this semester.

- Jordan Dick

The son of Timothy and Christine Dick, Jordan Dick was named an Elks Student of the Month for February at Clark Fork Jr./Sr. High School.

Dick has a grade point average of 3.6. A longtime Boy Scout, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 2017. He also completed the requirement to earn four Eagle Palms — a very rare achievement. Dick had the privilege to attend the Boy Scouts of America National Youth Leadership Training Camp.

He has been a member of the CFHS golf team all four years of high school and loves competing with his coach for a free lunch. He also played on the CFHS basketball team for two years.

Jordan is planning on attending BYU-Idaho in fall 2019 and majoring in automotive technology. In his free time, Jordan loves reading, blacksmithing, making many different pasta dinners, annoying his younger sister, and working in the woods.

- Cecelia Gedrose

The daughter of Lori and Jeremy Gedrose, Cecilia Gedrose was named an Elks Student of the Month for March at Sand-point High School.

In being selected for the honor, Gedrose said school is a very important aspect of her life, which is why she has worked to achieve a weighted GPA of 4.21 and an unweighted of 3.9. She ranks in the top 25 for my class.

Aside from academic achievements, Gedrose said she has a strong interest in the health care field, which has driven me to partake in the Diversified Health Occupations class at the high school where she is working to attain her CNA certification. She has served as secretary of the HOSA Future Health Professionals club, and also volunteers at Bonner General Health. Additionally, she enjoys spending her time exploring Sandpoint and travelling.

“I am so grateful to have such a supportive high school and community that encourages me to pursue my passions and goals,” she said.

- Alex Johnson

The son of Emily and Corey Johnson, Alex was named an Elks Student of the Month for March at Sandpoint High School.

One of his main activities in life has been swimming and he has been on a swim team since fourth grade, worked as a lifeguard at Sand-point City Beach for two years, and swam the Long Bridge three times. This year, however, he joined the Cyber-patriot and Interact clubs to try out some different activities.

Among the awards he has received include the Sandpoint High School Academic Achievement Award, the Microsoft Technology Associate Windows Operating System Fundamentals Certification, and the CompTIA A+ Certification.

He is ranked first out of 206 unweighted and 24th weighted.