Freeman High School: ‘Extremely genuine, very inquisitive’ Mari Hirayama leaves her mark at Freeman

For Freeman High School graduating senior Mari Hirayama, excellence means helping everyone else feel just a little bit better.

Sometimes that means getting her hands dirty.

Hirayama is a leader or member in seemingly every club and activity at Freeman, including National Honor Society, marching and pep bands and the Conservation Club.

The last group was founded only last year but was overdue, said Hirayama, who has helped organize outdoor hikes “for kids who otherwise wouldn’t be able to go,” and cleaning trash on the highway.

The group also has raised awareness by setting up a trash can near the cafeteria “to teach kids about composting,” Hirayama said.

That part of the project has been a mixed success, Hirayama acknowledged. But the seed has been planted, and the attitudes of some students transformed.

For all of the above, the Freeman community can thank Hirayama, who also finds time to teach music to Freeman sixth-graders. For as long as her teachers and classmates can remember, Hirayama has been making a difference.

“Mari … is magnetic, and she brings people together,” Freeman Principal Jeff Smith said. “And she doesn’t have to be super verbal or rah-rah in front of everybody.”

Hirayama’s leadership shines in the marching band, where she is on center snare drum.

“When she is in the line, everybody knows that everything will be OK,” band director James Jydstrup said.

Hirayama also embodies excellence in her own right. She’s been accepted at the University of Washington, where she will major in economics while pursuing minors in political science and music.

One day Hirayama hopes to work abroad in an American foreign embassy. And if that’s in Asia, she already has a head start with a knowledge of Japanese.

However, Hirayama isn’t coasting to the finish line. In April she won a first-place award in Ethics at the Future Business Leaders of America conference in Spokane. Earlier this year she was Freeman’s representative in fine arts in the Spokane Scholars Foundation program.

Perhaps Hirayama’s wide range of interests stem from what she calls an “interesting” family. Raised in a multigenerational household, she is an only child who lived with her parents, Alan and Jill Hirayama, grandparents, and an aunt and uncle and their three children.

“We had three different generations, which was different and cool,” Hirayama said.

Moving to Freeman from Spokane as a middle-schooler, Hirayama acknowledged that she was something of an introvert.

“But Mr. (Jydstrup) helped me come out of my shell, to not only apply myself but also become a leader,” Hirayama said.

Repaying the compliment, Jydstrup calls Hirayama “one of those students who demands perfection and works toward it every day.”

To Smith, her best attributes are her “quiet strength. She’s also extremely genuine, very inquisitive and very mature. She also maintains a sharp focus for her future and is definitely a responsible achiever as well.”