Many who know Sean through his involvement in Link Crew, Hope Squad, National Honor Society, Student Government, and track & field would be surprised to find out that Sean has spent his entire school career dealing with autism. In high school, he made the move to common core classes and took takes concurrent enrollment courses, he joined clubs and teams, making many friends along the way. He has been accepted at Salt Lake Community College, where he plans to put his constructing, building, and crafting talents to use as he gains more skills that will lead him to a career in the trade industry.
Sean Spackman
Brighton High School
Abbey has shown her drive to succeed in the face of adversity from the very beginning. Early challenges molded her commitment to setting ambitious goals, which included challenging coursework, excellent grades, and setting her sights on a college education. In the midst of it all, there have been moments of heartache, grief, and pain due to family crises, but Abbey rose to these challenges and used them to gain strength and purpose. She now dedicates herself to leadership and service, and looks forward to heading to the University of Utah in the fall where she’ll pursue a degree in Architecture and Interior Design. She hopes to create a business that not only renovates and builds homes, but also gives back to the community.
Abbey Aamodt
Corner Canyon High School
Respectful, kind, supportive, personable, hardworking and a natural leader are just some of the terms used by a teacher when describing Elijah. Elijah moved 11 times prior to settling in Utah with his Aunt midway through his high school career. Elijah had a lot of classes to retake, but he’s done so through hard work and determination. He now looks forward to getting a teaching degree so he can return to the classroom as a world history teacher. This passion for teaching is already evident in how he helps fellow students to understand difficult assignments, listens well to varying perspectives, and makes sure people feel that they are heard and understood. As an African American male, he sees the need to have more minority males in teaching positions to inspire and connect with minority students. Representation matters, and Elijah has big plans to represent.
Elijah Martin
Jordan High School
Smart, talented, determined, focused and resilient are words an Alta school counselor used to describe Saskia. The hurdles have been immense: moving to a new country, learning a new language, being separated from friends and family, and losing her mom to cancer. Despite these challenging circumstances, Saskia chose to dig in, work hard, and do good for others. She took her grades from D’s and C’s to straight A’s, became the president of the Ballroom Team, was chosen as a team captain for Alta’s Peer Leadership Team, is active in the Latinos in Action organization, and is her school’s World Language Sterling Scholar. Saskia plans to take college classes this summer as part of the Step2TheU program and then make a final decision on which college to attend.
Saskia Paepke-Chile
Alta High School
Rising Star Scholarship Winner
Obstacles. They have been ever-present in Hailey’s life. Family issues forced her to grow up quickly and become a light and leader to her four younger siblings. Most students dealing with even one of Hailey’s obstacles likely would have given up, but Hailey rose to the challenge and let the difficulties fuel her desire to succeed. Academically, she achieved. Musically, she excelled. And now she is one step closer to achieving her goal of becoming a high school biology teacher as she heads to Utah State University this fall. As a teacher, she plans to put her life experience to work as she teaches, guides, supports, and is a friend to her future students.
Hailey Timm
Brighton High
Inquisitive. Humble. Focused. Resilient. Compassionate. These are words that a Hillcrest High School counselor chose to describe Miriam, a girl who decided to turn her life, and grades, around and not let grief define her. Hard work, outstanding attitude and determination have resulted in a senior year of nothing but A’s and B’s. Miriam is excited to put her keen eye for fashion to good use as she works toward a career in fashion design. She’s already been accepted at Salt Lake Community College, and looks forward to eventually be able to model her own clothing designs. But that’s not the only modeling she plans to do. Her greatest modeling gig is the one she has right now, as an amazing role model for her younger siblings.
Miriam Camacho
Hillcrest High School
As a Diamond Ridge student, Martha has learned how to balance high school coursework with her CNA nursing courses at CTEC. Coming into the program, she couldn’t see how college could happen for her, but through grit and determination, Martha has discovered the thrill of learning new things while achieving big goals. Martha’s counselor wrote that she is an exceptional student, kind and respectful with strong character. She is proud of her GPA and looks forward to learning new things as she begins the Pre-Medical Health Sciences coursework at Salt Lake Community College and sets her sights on becoming a nurse.
Martha Lopez Rodriguez
Diamond Ridge High School