PRIEST RIVER — The motto of the West Bonner County School District is “Strive for Greatness.” The adage is one which Priest River Lamanna High School’s 2019 valedictorian and salutatorian team most certainly emulate.

“We continue to raise the bar, we continue to challenge our students, and these are two young women who have accepted that challenge and who have grown exponentially because of it,” said PRLHS Principal Joe Kren of valedictorian Christina Tefft and salutatorian Chloe Livingston.

“Those two are two amazing young women — they really are,” Kren continued. “They have worked very, very hard for what they have earned.”

Tefft was named valedictorian with a weighted GPA 4.362 and 57.5 credits earned, with Livingston named salutatorian with a weighted GPA of 4.315 and 47.5 credits. The pair said they knew they would be valedictorian and salutatorian as they are both dual credit students, which helped boost their GPA. They were not quite sure, however, who would be named valedictorian and who would be salutatorian out of the two of them.

“So it was a little bit of a surprise — it was exciting,” Tefft said. “It is a big honor, and it is nice for scholarships, too.”

Livingston agreed that it was exciting to receive the honor.

“I’m excited to give a speech, but also kind of nervous,” she said, adding that she already has an idea of what she wants to say.

The pair have been students in the district for their entire school careers, so it will be a bittersweet moment for them as they address their class for the last time in June.

Both Tefft and Livingston are dual credit students, with Tefft on track to earn her associate degree in general studies from North Idaho College in May — before she graduates from PRLHS, in fact. To date, Tefft has earned 23.5 dual credits and Livingston has earned 7.5.

“It is a lot of commuting,” said Tefft, who is traveling to NIC in Coeur d’Alene three days a week this semester, as there is no satellite campus as there is in some of the other North Idaho communities.

After high school, Tefft plans to go on to New Mexico State University in the fall to study aerospace engineering. Tefft initially wanted to join the United States Air Force and become a pilot, though some health issues derailed that plan, she said. Because of the high cost to become a civilian pilot, Tefft said she chose aerospace engineering so she could design planes instead. By doing so, Tefft said she can still work for the Air Force through civilian services.

Livingston plans to go to Idaho State University in the fall to study occupational therapy, though she was originally looking at physical therapy.

“As I learned the difference between them, I became more interested in occupational therapy, because it also deals with the psychological aspects of people ... I feel like you can go one step further in helping people and I am really interested in that,” Livingston said.

Livingston has been involved in the school drama program since her freshman year, most recently performing in Off the Wall Theater’s production of “Peter Pan, Jr.” She is also involved in the Community Service Learning Club, which hosts food drives for the school’s pantry to help out students who don’t have access to food on the weekends when they are not in school.

With the pair are taking college courses in Coeur d’Alene, Kren said high school can be difficult when so much time is spent off campus, yet both Tefft and Livingston have managed to stay active and involved in the school.

One program both young women participated in was the Distinguished Young Women program their junior year, with Tefft being named Priest River’s 2019 Distinguished Young Woman, and Livingston as the first alternate. Through the program, they stay actively involved in the community as well, doing monthly volunteer service projects for different organizations such as the Priest River Ministries Advocates for Women and Priest River Animal Rescue, as well as hosting a Thanksgiving community dinner and Veterans Day dinner.

“They are such great representatives for what our school and our community truly is about,” Kren said.

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