Exceptional in athletics and academics, SHS senior Katie Van Buskirk seamlessly balances both with ease.

An experienced runner and skier, Van Buskirk has competed in cross-country for the past three years, and Nordic skiing for all four, as well as three (soon to be four) seasons of track and field. Within her career, she has won three team DII state championships in cross-country, as well as being one of the few skiers in SHS history to have qualified for state, where she has also placed within the top ten.

These monumental achievements are complemented by Van Buskirk’s impressive academic record. An inductee and vice president of the local National Honor Society, she is also in contention to be the valedictorian of the class of 2025, a feat performed a year earlier by her elder brother, John. Additionally, during this year’s aforementioned cross-country championship, she, alongside her team, received the DII academic award, achieved with their outstanding 4.0 average GPA.

This scholarly pedigree is being put to good use, as Katie hopes attend college for either animal science or equine science, the latter fueled by her lifelong love of horses. “But, I’m thinking about taking a gap year and going to New Zealand or Switzerland,” she stated.

With a bright future and career ahead, Katie seems to be appreciating the simple pleasures of high school while she still can. “[SHS] is a really, like, tight-knit community, and we’re so small, that we’re all kind of, like, friends,” she said. “I think I’ll probably miss the little things the most; just seeing people in the hallway, talking in between classes, doing sports, I’m going to miss it a lot.”