Spokane Valley Tech: Sydney Windhorst’s work to understand her ADHD is helping others

From a young age, Sydney Windhorst knew she was different from other students.

“My teachers would say, ‘She gets up and wanders,’ ” Windhorst said. “I was often described as a free spirit.”

In high school, she decided to research what made her school experience so different from her peers.

“I saw myself working even harder than my peers just to keep up,” she said. “Especially during COVID and quarantine.”

Her passion to understand herself better led to a diagnosis of ADHD shortly before her 16th birthday.

“I can’t believe I went all these years without knowing this part of my identity,” she said.

Once Windhorst learned what her challenges were, she found strategies that helped her thrive at Spokane Valley Tech.

“She’s chosen to challenge herself academically every semester while maintaining her school and community commitments. She has an incredibly strong 3.9 GPA,” said teacher Lori Buratto. “She participates in the National Honor Society and impressively has earned the Eagle Scout designation.”

Windhorst wasn’t content with keeping her discoveries to herself. She wanted to help other students, too.

“For my school project, I was inspired to create a Metacognitive Toolkit for Students with ADHD,” she said. “I kinda joined this ADHD community and noticed some of my peers didn’t have a learning plan or access to specialists like I did.”

Last year her project won first place in the school’s Trade Show of Innovation competition. And this year she’s taken her research and her toolkit into Sarah Phillips’ classroom at Greenacres Elementary.

“Sydney has spent this year getting a better understanding of the various ways ADHD can impact students at the elementary level and brainstorming ways to help support students at various levels of need,” Phillips said. “Most recently, she’s been observing students K-5 and then discussing ways to scaffold techniques from her original toolbox design to those learners, as well as identifying other strategies that may be useful to younger learners. It’s been fun watching her learn and grow, as she continues her passion to help support students impacted by ADHD.”

Buratto echoed that sentiment.

“She’s got intrinsic curiosity,” Buratto said. “She gives so much as a student and as a human.”

One of the ways Windhorst gives is through Scouting.

“I started doing Scouts toward the end of COVID,” she said. “My brother got his Eagle Scout in 2019.”

Windhorst quickly got involved with the leadership council and participated in national youth training and served as a senior patrol leader.

She eyes her future with optimism and plans to attend Washington State University. She’s been accepted into the Honors College.

“I’m excited to find out what my calling is and what my career path might be.”

She’s interested in psychology.

“I job-shadowed my ADHD doc and interviewed him,” she said. “I have a lot of ideas about what I’d like to do. Ultimately, I’d like to help patients diagnose themselves. It’s really rewarding to help other people.”

Her hard work and compassion have been apparent to the staff at Spokane Valley Tech.

“One thing I’m certain of,” Buratto said. “Sydney will be successful in whatever challenges or opportunities present themselves. She leans in and makes the most of it.”