Lakeside High School (Nine Mile Falls): For Adam Edwards, leadership comes from a deep well of faith

Lakeside High School graduate Adam Edwards is not reluctant to share that he defines his life by his strong Christian faith. What impresses those around him, however, is how he acts upon that faith.

Edwards is class valedictorian, senior class president, and two-time captain of the Eagles’ boys basketball team. But those are perhaps the least of his accomplishments.

More noteworthy in many ways was his sophomore-year mentorship of a schoolmate with Down syndrome in a weightlifting course, his participation in Unified Sports activities with a blend of general-education students and those with cognitive or physical challenges, and his role in helping to revive a Bible study that grew to include as many as 50 students.

Lakeside principal Brent Osborn puts it this way: “Adam is a compassionate and dedicated student leader who positively impacts everyone he meets. He builds meaningful connections and promotes kindness, and his character and leadership make him an outstanding role model and an inspiration to his school community. He is an example of strength, support, and Lakeside Pride.”

“The way I live my life comes from my faith,” Edwards said, “and I want to show the love of Christ to everyone that I can, to love everyone in the best way that I can. It’s hard in a church setting to reach people with intellectual disabilities, and it’s important to me to live my faith outside the church as well as in. My faith drives me not to just worship one day a week on Sunday, but to reach out with like-minded believers.”

It is unsurprising, then, that Edwards plans to pursue a career in pastoral ministry, starting with enrollment this fall at Moody Bible Institute.

“I realized a couple years ago that my personality lends itself to that,” he said. “I’ve tried to be a good leader at Lakeside, but I’ve also learned that to be a good leader you first need to be an excellent follower. My parents, teachers and coaches have all been very influential in my life, and they have helped me to know that in a leadership role, you also have to be a servant.

“I work with special-needs students in a Life Skills class at school, helping them to learn skills for real-world jobs, and in that role and as a basketball captain, I’m serving my classmates and teammates in helping them work toward a common goal. All the different parts of my life come together in that way.”

Edwards’ life has not come without its challenges. His mother, who is a special-education teacher in Spokane Public Schools, was diagnosed last summer with cancer, and although there have been positive signs in her treatment, it has been a difficult time for Adam.

“It’s really hard for me to see how it affects my parents,” he said, “but it’s a blessing to me that my brother has graduated from college and moved back to Spokane. Our family prays every night for my mom. I love her and want to comfort her, and it will be hard not to be able to do that as much when I leave for college.”

Wherever he is, though, Edwards is determined to live in the world in a way that reflects his faith in all circumstances.

“I want to be a light to others,” he said. “I want to share what Jesus has done for me.”