Sarah Swider
Photo by Christine Woeller
Coeur d’Alene High School
A senior at Coeur d’Alene High School, Sarah Swider has participated in sports for her entire life. Over the years, some of the organized sports she has been involved with include tennis, soccer, ballet, cross country and track, but it is tennis and soccer that she has chosen to focus on in her high school years.
As a testimony to her leadership skills, Sarah was captain of both the varsity soccer and tennis teams this past year.
“My club soccer team placed second in nationals in the summer of 2018,” said Sarah of one of her athletic achievements. She also participated in the Junior Olympics for tennis, winning the gold medal.
Sarah is also an avid skier and is a fourth-year, Level I certified ski instructor at Schweitzer Mountain Resort in Sandpoint.
But it’s not just in athletics where Sarah finds success; she has also been on the honor roll all four years of high school and was a DECA national qualifier both her junior and senior years.
With graduation upon her, Sarah shares that her plans include attending Boise State University in the fall where she will study nursing with a goal of becoming a pediatric nurse practitioner.
While Sarah received several offers to play soccer at the collegiate level, she is instead choosing to focus on her academics. “I may revisit participating in collegiate tennis or soccer depending on academic demands at college,” she said.
While Sarah admits it was challenging at times to continue to excel at a competitive level when faced with a recurring ankle injury, it did not stop her from enjoying the camaraderie and competitiveness that come with sports. And it is that competition that also afforded Sarah the opportunity to learn from her mistakes.
“A lesson I learned is that if you make a mistake, you don't dwell on it. You learn from it, blow it off and move forward,” she said.
Cameron Johnson
Lake City High School
A senior at Lake City High School, Cameron Johnson is passionate about golf, and it’s a passion he intends to carry on when he continues his education at the collegiate level. Cameron has won three tournaments as an individual this year and has placed second on one occasion.
“Next year I will be attending Spokane Community College on a golf scholarship,” said Cameron of his future plans.
Cameron is also an honor roll student who has maintained above a 3.5 GPA throughout high school. His plan is to major in education and one day teach math.
“I would also like to become a golf coach,” he adds.
When one shows success as Cameron has, it does not come without challenges. For Cameron, that challenge has come in the form of being able to consistently shoot low scores—but he believes that is changing.
“It is very hard to shoot low (scores) often, and I haven’t always done that,” said Cameron. “My game is now to the point where I feel like I will shoot low every day.”
Cameron shares that what he enjoys most about golf is that there is both a team and individual aspect.
“I think it’s cool that at every tournament I can go out there and win a tournament and also have my team win as well,” he said.
Over the years, Cameron said his coach has taught him a very important lesson he intends to carry with him throughout life: “I think the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that even if you don’t want to do something, sometimes you have to grow up and do things to better a situation.”