K-12 education

Lakeside High School graduate Adam Edwards is not reluctant to share that he defines his life by his strong Christian faith. What impresses those around him, however, is how he acts upon that faith.

Jazirah “Ziri” Gentry had a rough start in life. Born two months early, purple and gray, she had to be resuscitated, as her lungs weren’t functioning. She then developed severe asthma as a child.

Lewis and Clark High School senior Fatima Mahdawi, who was born and raised in Afghanistan, had a very chilly reception from Spokane when she moved here, but that was only because she arrived in December.

Lizzy Abwe doesn’t remember much about her early childhood in Tanzania. The memories she does have about school life are bleak.

Lunis Bair, 17, is graduating from MAP High School this spring.

It’s ironic that Liberty High School senior Marie Eden is such a standout musician, because the quality in herself that she admires the most is her commitment to teamwork.

Medical Lake High School senior Gabriella Ornelas had a full plate during her high school career.

Not to make too big of a play on her last name, but Mica Peak High School senior Makenzie Rose is truly the rose that grew from concrete.

Freshman year of high school usually comes with a lot of momentum, as students start down the path to senior year and post-grad life. Just as things were getting going for Stephane Vogl, she faced a roadblock when she had a stroke during surgery to remove a brain tumor.

When Mt. Spokane High School senior Heidi Neumiller learned before her freshman year that she would have the opportunity to enroll in a sports medicine class, she didn’t hesitate.

Ashlinne Butler, like so many students during the COVID-19 pandemic, had to adapt to taking classes strictly online. When her family moved from Oregon to Post Falls three years ago to be closer to their extended family, she enrolled in a traditional high school.

Whenever North Central High School counselor Kerry Trepus had a new student who needed to be shown around the school, she had a go-to pick for a tour guide: Abigail Liezen.

After 10 years in foster care, a young teen found a forever family in the home of her best friend in school.

Anna Writebol spent her early years in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Northwest Christian senior Maggie Yu Mei Wright lived a lot of life before arriving in Spokane.

Around the time COVID-19 caused schools to move online, On Track Academy senior Miles Day, then in seventh grade, was being pulled out of school and moved to online classes to help with his mental health.

Camryn Nichols is a bright, cheerful and optimistic person who has overcome and continues to live with a host of physical ailments that leave her in pain and exhausted most of the time. You’d never know it upon meeting her.

When life changes in an instant, one can either look back at what has been lost, or decide to move forward, living in a world that has been transformed.

Marcus Erlinso entered Rogers High School carrying a heavy burden. He’d experienced something no one should endure and found it difficult to talk about.