SANDPOINT — Over $291,000 in local scholarships were given to Sandpoint High School students at the school’s annual scholarship night this year.

With 83 seniors submitting over 1,356 applications, 279 scholarships contributed to the grand total. One scholarship, the Sleyster Unlimited Potential Scholarship, has been awarded every year since 2017 by an alumnus who graduated from SHS in 2008. 

Jake Sleyster, the founder of the scholarship, lives in Seattle where he works with artificial intelligence. Since setting out to achieve new goals after high school, Sleyster has attended Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to study aerospace engineering, worked as flight test engineer for the Air Force and earned another master’s degree in technology management. 

“In the last six years I’ve been in the artificial intelligence space working with future tech and incorporating artificial intelligence into a variety of different commercial and government spaces,” he said.  

A few years out of grad school, Sleyster developed the idea of a scholarship when looking for ways to give back to the Sandpoint community as he was working in San Diego. After receiving his own scholarships as a graduate at SHS and seeing the impact they can make, he set out to find a way to help do the same for others. 

“My community always supported me and made sure I was taken care of when I went off to school, so the start of the whole process was wanting to give back to the community,” he said. “So I figured a scholarship focused on STEM — the career field that I chose — would be a great way to contribute.”

He also recalled the intensity of nights leading up to scholarship application deadlines, noting that he wanted to offer students time to engage in a fresh perspective during that season. Pulling together goals for the rest of one’s career at 18 years old can be a daunting task, and wording those goals for organizations and colleges can seem even more of a challenge. 

“When I put my scholarship together, I wanted the kids to have a moment to think about what they can do and what they would like to do,” Sleyster said. “One of the questions we ask is ‘If you had a superpower, what would it be and how would you use that to contribute to growth in society — what would you accomplish?”

These types of questions offer students a chance to think past some typical goals, and consider what they could do with unlimited resources, finances and potential. 

Every year, Sleyster is faced with the difficult decision of narrowing down applications — sometimes this means choosing two students. 

“The variety of students that I get is pretty impressive — ranging from students who want to go into aviation and aerospace, which is my background, all the way through biology and environmental studies to doctors, to artificial intelligence and computer sciences,” Sleyster said.

He has made it his mission to create a scholarship that focuses on real-world application of goals by asking unique questions. His prompts are designed to provoke imagination and encourage students to take their typical scholarship applications a step further. 

On top of answering specific questions, students also submit a generic application which includes the school they are going to, financial need, placement in class rank, and an essay about why they are attending a specific school. 

“When making my selection I’m looking for students who not only need the help for school, but secondly, maybe they aren’t the highest ranked in the class but they have the passion, the interest and the dedication for this next portion of their life that they’re ready to commit to,” Sleyster said. 

Students also submit a project about something they are passionate about — this could be anything from a PowerPointpresentation to an architectural design. This offers Sleyester some insight into what specifically motivates the student. 

“I was definitely not the highest ranked in my high school class but I was passionate about what I wanted to go into,” he said. “I make my selection based on that as well.”

Extracurriculars are a determining factor as well, since college opens up such diverse opportunities to be involved in extra learning experiences, he said.

Jeralyn Mire, post-secondary counselor at SHS, said she is continually impressed by the generosity of the community every scholarship night. On top of scholarships given to graduating seniors, the community awarded an additional $73,000 in scholarships to students currently in college or trade school. 

“All of these wonderful community groups and people are helping to support our students with their post-secondary plans, whether it is college, community college, technical or trade school,” Mire said.