Coeur d’Alene High School: Connor Gallaher shores up on an ocean of learning

A 44-foot catamaran once served as a classroom for Connor Gallaher, who was raised in the Florida Keys. At the start of 2021, he embarked with family for two years of ocean sailing.

When his family moved to North Idaho four years ago, he traded those voyages for Coeur d’Alene High School, where he navigated advanced classes, clubs and service projects. Next, he will study engineering at the University of Idaho.

Among his achievements are Eagle Scout, National Honor Society, and November 2025 Kiwanis Student of the Month for community service. He also participated in speech and debate and DECA.

“Connor is one of a kind,” said Megan Franklin, his counselor. “He’s so poised, responsible, capable and varied in his interests.

“I’d trust him in the future as my doctor, my lawyer – but he wants to go into engineering, and I’d trust him to engineer anything that I would use, because he’s so bright and capable. He has such a good heart and spirit.”

Gallaher has committed to UI’s Microchip Engineering and Security Alliance program, which has students spend their first two years studying at Hiroshima University in Japan.

“I’m very adventure-focused,” said Gallaher, 18. “I like to go out and see the world and do things. I’m definitely a nerd.”

He and his family – including dad Michael, mom Stephanie and brother Cameron, 17 – took on a project after they bought a catamaran as a fixer -upper.

“We worked on it for two years,” he said. In Key West, he lived with family on the catamaran in a marina, “and, of course, I was going to school and everything.”

“Then on New Year’s Day of 2021, we left the dock and sailed up the Eastern Seaboard for 2021, and for 2022, we sailed down to the Caribbean. I spent tons of time in the Bahamas, U.S. Virgin Islands.”

While in the north Atlantic, they navigated New York Harbor and the East River and sailed up to Boston. While sailing, Gallaher was home-schooled using textbooks and paper – no computers. After finishing his schoolwork, he could explore an island or city, or go diving.

“I got to see amazing things while sailing around. I also got leadership experience. Everybody contributes when you’re on a boat.”

His family moved to Coeur d’Alene seeking the Northwest’s beauty, he said. They also sought a traditional high school experience, and Gallaher took several Advanced Placement and honors classes.

His Eagle Scout project covered the building of aluminum picnic tables for a park in the city of Dalton Gardens.

In DECA, he got a first-place award for his startup business plan to make U.S. housing more efficient and less expensive for construction, maintenance and energy use.

He and classmates in the Model U.N. studied the United Nations and were assigned to learn about the member nations. Gallaher tested well in his AP classes, scoring a high of 5 for AP U.S. History.

He’s been to many of those historic U.S. places, among other travel highlights.

“Going out to the ocean really taught me a lot of leadership experience that has carried forward into my high school career, but also into Scouting and the other areas of my life,” he said.