‘Just an honest, hardworking kid’
High school hallways can be a tough place to figure out one’s direction in life, let alone any sense of personal identity.
A petri dish-worthy social experiment in combining teenage traumas, romances, friendships and scholastic aptitude, sometimes leaders emerge from the shadows with career goals in sight. Such is the case with Kootenai High School graduate Kyle Grubham.
Though he’s always been a diligent and intelligent young man, said physical education and shop teacher John Love, Grubham proved his integrity when he returned a lost $100 bill at a recent track meet. “This is a young man who’s always been in the shadows of his class. He’s just an honest, hardworking kid,” Love said. About returning the lost cash, he added, “You don’t see that very often anymore.”
However, for the reserved Grubham, one of 26 students in the senior class, he takes the compliment in stride. Raised in the outskirts of Harrison on the eastern shore of south Lake Coeur d’Alene, the outdoor enthusiast and cross-country athlete has long known where his future is headed, thanks in part to his Eagle Scout training and spiritual upbringing.
The Eagle Scouts, he said, “really teaches values and promotes good morals. It also encourages kids to look forward into their lives and jobs.”
In that regard, Grubham has narrowed his post-high-school life down to a few stages. Coming from a large Mormon family – he’s the second oldest in a family of five kids – he said he’d like to first follow in his older brother Lloyd’s footsteps by going on a mission trip to an undetermined location in South Asia. “I plan on going on a two-year mission with my church,” he said. “After that, I plan on attending BYU-Idaho for computer science.”
And he’s had a head start in obtaining his specified college degree. Since he started tooling around with the family PC at 5 years old, he’s become self-taught in computer repair and was sixth in a state PC trouble-shooting competition put on by the Business Professionals of America. “I don’t really know why I enjoy it, but I do. I’m fairly good at fixing things. I’ve always had sort of a knack for it,” he said.
Though only 18 and quiet by nature, Grubham is a mature young adult, said Chris Petersen, the district executive for Boy Scouts of America. At the summer camps where the Kootenai High School graduate worked for the last several years, the kids always looked up to Grubham.
“He is 100 percent reliable,” Petersen said. Even though the camp counselors were paid below minimum wage, Petersen said he could always find Grubham logging in unpaid overtime. “He was always up there after hours working with the kids. He was a good mentor with young people.”