EDMONDS — In her spare time, which must be infrequent, Ari Girouard has studied enough to achieve a cumulative 3.91 grade-point-average. Beginning in the fall she plans to study sciences at the University of Washington, perhaps as a prelude to a career in the medical field.
Girouard has used the rest of her time at Edmonds-Woodway High School to do pretty much everything else.
On Wednesday night, Girouard’s many activities and accomplishments were among those celebrated at the Edmonds School District’s Scholar-Athlete and Coach/Community Recognition banquet. The event honored Girouard and 16 other girls and boys from Edmonds-Woodway, Lynnwood, Meadowdale and Mountlake Terrace high schools.
What kept Girouard busy in high school included, among other things, being senior class president, playing on the E-W softball team, being the Warrior mascot at football games and other school events, serving as the student representative to the Edmonds City Council, and even being president of E-W’s Random Acts of Kindness Club.
But in particular it was her four years and some 300 hours working as a volunteer student trainer that got the attention of district officials, and resulted in Girouard receiving a $4,500 scholarship for her college education.
“I was actually kind of surprised,” Girouard said after the evening event at Edmonds-Woodway. “I really wasn’t expecting it.” Financially speaking, she added, “it’s going to make my experience at UW a lot better and a lot less stressful for sure.”
In her years at Edmonds-Woodway, “I’ve just tried to make people’s experiences better,” she said. “It’s not like I try to do anything huge. I feel like I do a lot of little things … and it’s kind of cool that I was recognized for that.”
Other honorees and their awards are Edmonds-Woodway’s Megan Kelly ($2,000), Susan Kim ($3,000), Spencer Schultz ($3,500) and  Reid Whitson ($2,500); Lynnwood’s David Cooper ($2,000) and Mikao Kirkman ($1,500); Meadowdale’s Julio Abad ($2,000), Tiffany Daniggelis ($3,500), Ngozi Ezeokeke ($4,000) and Colby Saysanith ($1,500); and Mountlake Terrace’s Gene An ($4,000), Bryson Bruno ($2,500), Ella Schroth ($1,500) and Katherine Walter ($3,000).
Two honorees, Lynnwood’s Jordyn Edwards and Mikayla Pivec, are not receiving Edmonds School District financial awards because they are basketball players already receiving full athletic scholarships. Edwards is headed to Colorado State University while Pivec will attend Oregon State University.
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