This story is part of The Daily Herald’s annual look at promising local high school graduates.
MARYSVILLE — Kristin Nehring has a heart for children. During her distinguished tenure at the School for the Entrepreneur, part of Marysville Getchell High School, she devoted many hours to kids with special needs.
“To see them happy is so rewarding,” said Nehring, 18, who plans on a career as a pediatric nurse after earning a degree at Grand Canyon University, a Christian college in Phoenix.
This summer, for the second year, she’ll work caring for a 9-year-old nonverbal boy affected by Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome. The rare condition can cause developmental delays, growth issues and other physical problems.
She also has been a volunteer “buddy” with Camp Prov, a day camp at Everett’s Forest Park for children with special needs. The camp is organized through Providence Children’s Center.
The Miracle League, an athletic program for people with special needs, is also important to Nehring. She got to know Jody Rose, whose husband is School for the Entrepreneur Principal David Rose. Jody Rose was formerly special-needs coordinator at the Monroe YMCA, where Nehring helped with Miracle League basketball.
She describes those games as joyous exercises in which everyone — kids in wheelchairs, with autism or Down syndrome — get a chance to make a shot.
Nehring also volunteered with Miracle League bowling in Lynnwood. And as part of a senior project, she reached out to the Marysville YMCA to help bring the program there.
Nehring has great memories of DECA at Marysville Getchell and the travels it allowed her. She was president of the entrepreneurial organization at the school. A DECA leadership conference in Anaheim, California, included a behind-the-scenes peek at the business of Disneyland. Another DECA trip took her to Orlando, Florida.
Nehring, who also volunteers with young children at Marysville’s Grove Church, will graduate Wednesday with a 3.94 grade point average and a head start on college. For her senior year, she took two classes each quarter through Running Start at Everett Community College, earning college credit in chemistry, nutrition, statistics, biology, sociology and art.
Her goal was to start on prerequisites for nursing, a profession that runs in the family. Her mother, Mari-Anne Nehring, is a nurse who at 18 came to the United States from Norway as an au pair. Kristin Nehring’s last name is familiar in her hometown. Her dad Jon Nehring is Marysville’s mayor.
She’ll spend the summer helping a child with special needs, working at a frozen yogurt shop, and savoring family time at a cabin on Lake Riley. Then it’s off to a future of serving others.
“I am confident that I can have a great influence in the lives of children who are often marginalized by society,” she said. “I love working with these kids.”
Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460; jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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