Staying busy, setting high standards

Soccer player, assistant in the management of all three boy’s basketball teams, two jobs, dual enrollment at North Idaho College – all while she maintains a 4.0 grade point average her senior year. That has made Lakeland High School senior Diana Thompson a very busy girl.

Thompson began playing soccer in grade school and has played all four years on the high school team at Lakeland. This year the team took first in the district and fifth overall at state. The relationships she built with the other players were Thompson’s favorite part of high school.

“We hung out together even during the summer,” said Thompson about the other members of the girl’s and boy’s teams. “We became close like a family.”

Thompson has two brothers, one older and one younger. Her parents are Roy and Dawn Thompson.

During basketball season, Thompson and two other girls from the soccer team managed the boy’s C-team, junior varsity and varsity teams.

Thompson does part-time office work for Champion Concrete Pumping and recently began working as a waitress for Denny’s. She loves the energy of the restaurant atmosphere and described the training phase as always something happening.

What started out as a research paper lead Thompson to firm up her post-high school plans. She interviewed a friend who recently completed her teaching degree and is working with special education students.

The information and encouragement Thompson received made her rethink becoming a teacher. She’d always enjoyed working with the younger kids during summer soccer camps. So she has decided to pursue elementary education as her major and plans to attend Washington State University in the fall.

When she has her degree, Thompson hopes to teach first or second grade because at that age kids always seem to be so positive and full of life, she said.

“I’ve received academic scholarships from WSU,” she said. “These cover approximately 40 percent of my tuition.”

Thompson offered this advice: “I think there are kids who don’t try hard their senior year, which is a pity because most of what I got for scholarships was based on my academics.”