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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lakeside salutatorian caps list of honors with AA degree

Brook Chick, of Lakeside High School in Plummer, Idaho, talked about graduation at the North Idaho College campus on April 20. Chick has earned a high school diploma and an associate of arts degree from NIC simultaneously. (Kathy Plonka)

Brook Chick is a young woman who enjoys challenges and making the most of opportunities in life. She also learned at a young age that not everything goes as planned and that things can change quickly.

She was 9 when her mother, Ruth, died and has been raised ever since by her father, Mark, a chef, who never remarried.

Her dad, she said, “did a pretty good job at being a single dad, though it did get a little awkward during puberty,” said Chick, 18. “I was fortunate, too, that I always had good women role models when I needed more womanly kinds of advice.”

When she graduated last month from Plummer’s Lakeside High School, Chick also earned her associate of arts degree from North Idaho College, where she had been dual enrolled for the past two years. Even though she took most of her classes at NIC in Coeur d’Alene, she remained engaged at her high school.

She participated on the Knowledge Bowl team, was president of the National Honor Society chapter and was chapter president of Business Professionals of America. She helped plan activities for student government and was active with Family Career and Community Leaders of America, an organization in which she had held statewide office. She graduated salutatorian, having the second highest grade point average in her class.

And as a nice way to relax, she paints – acrylics, mostly landscapes.

Chick is focusing her activities and studies on business.

“I love the business world, speaking in front of people and all that goes with that kind of professional environment,” she said. This fall she plans to attend Boise State University, where she will continue business studies.

“It will be far enough away so that I will be in a different place, but close enough that home is within reach.”

She is no stranger to Boise. During the legislative session this winter she was chosen to serve as a page for the Idaho Senate.

“I was surprised at how approachable everyone was, and I learned a great deal about how to conduct myself in a professional environment.” And she added, with a bit of a smile, “I also found out that politicians weren’t as bad as I thought they might be.”

Chick is looking forward with optimism.

“I’m a pretty happy person. It’s better to look at the good side of things, I think, rather than the bad. It’s a lot less stressful.”