LCHS: Student involved outside LC

For Nate Robnett-Conover, the last four years have been more about what he has accomplished in the world outside as opposed to within the hallways of Lewis and Clark High School.

The 18-year-old valedictorian is a founding member of Los Hermanos, a group of 20 or so students who have raised funds to pay for the operating costs of a high school in a village in El Salvador.

Together with students from LC and St. George’s School, Robnett-Conover has been part of fundraising efforts totaling more than $30,000 for Huizisilapa. He and the group have organized car washes, fasted with support from sponsors and solicited money from businesses to keep the high school in the village open.

Now, at a time when the teens are preparing to go to college, Robnett-Conover and friends are trying to raise funds so two students from the village can continue their education at a university in San Salvador.

The teens of Los Hermanos traveled to the village in 2005 to visit the students there.

“It was part of the reality that made it not just a charity but a partnership,” Robnett-Conover said. “It has been amazing.”

In addition to helping forge the way for Los Hermanos, Robnett-Conover is part of Team Dharma, a meditation circle that meets once a week. He also has volunteered at the Shriners Hospital for Children, where, he says, his duties were simply “to play with the kids.”

“It’s where I search for definition a lot,” he said.

Academically, Robnett-Conover is defined by straight A’s and rigorous coursework.

In addition to being one of 14 valedictorians with a 4.0 grade-point average, he also is a National Merit Scholar. He received a $2,500 scholarship for scoring among the highest in the nation on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Robnett-Conover, son of Douglas Robnett and Sarah Conover, has been accepted to Reed College in Portland. But he plans to defer college for at least a year to discover and expand his social conscience.

“I’ve devoted a lot of my life to academics; now I want to explore other things,” he said.

Robnett-Conover will spend his summer in Toronto working as an intern for Leaders Today, a youth leadership organization that promotes community service through leadership across the world.

When he’s finished, he may pursue a degree in international studies or medicine so he can work with Doctors Without Borders, a medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency health care in more than 70 countries to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters or exclusion from health care.

Robnett-Conover hasn’t applied for any college scholarships because he has the money he needs from his family.

Instead, he says, he wants the money to go “to people who need it.”