Difference maker

In between being the student body president at Colony High School, playing soccer in Anchorage five nights a week, facilitating a tutoring program in the high school and staying first in her class, senior Sianna Garrod has managed to find time to win one of the top government scholarships available to students.

From March 1-8, Garrod will be in Washington, D.C., where she will get to meet with Cabinet-level officials, Supreme Court justices and U.S. senators as part of the United States Senate Youth Program.

She was one of two Alaskans chosen for the honor. There are 104 delegates chosen nationally for the highly-competitive program.

"This is a tremendous honor for Sianna, as well as for her classmates and teachers," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski in announcing the award, which also went to Dimond High School senior Raina Hammel. "I'm pleased in joining Sen. Stevens and all Alaskans in telling both these outstanding young Alaskans how proud we all are of them and of what they have achieved."

Garrod said she is excited about the opportunity to visit the capital and meet some of the nation's leaders.

"I think it'll be a great experience to meet Supreme Court justices and the senators," Garrod said. "I'll get to see behind the scenes, like I never would get to if I just visited there normally."

Finding time to get to Washington, D.C. is a minor miracle for Garrod. Her activity schedule is nothing short of hectic, with five trips to Anchorage a week for soccer among the myriad of school- and church-related activities in which she participates. Despite all of her extra-curricular activities, it is her curricular activities that shine brightest. She is first in her class, and she said that comes from determination.

"I think my school work is actually better when I have a lot of things going on because I get my school stuff done first to make time," Garrod explained. "It makes me concentrate on school first."

Last year, Garrod started a tutoring program at Colony High School with the Extended Learning Program coordinator, Dave Rose. Garrod said she saw the rewards of that experience when a friend jumped from a C average in math to an A average.

"Right now I'm just trying to match people up with tutors rather than actually tutoring," Garrod explained. "It's nice to see other students raise their grades after the time you've put into it."

Like a parent can't say which child is their favorite, Garrod can't pick a single activity that stands out as being her favorite, although she said she simply couldn't live without soccer.

"I think everything together is what I like the best," she said with a laugh. "I can't really pick one or the other."

After she graduates this spring, Garrod has her sights set on big things.

She wants to play soccer in college, and her choices right now are Vanderbilt, Creighton, Willamette or Gonzaga, she said.

Ultimately, Garrod wants to become pediatric oncologist, but in terms of how she is getting to that point, Garrod is undecided.

"I've always been interested in computers, so I could go that route, or I could major in business so I could open my own practice," Garrod said. "I've been thinking about minoring in Spanish because it would be a big help to be a bilingual doctor."

She said her ultimate dream would be to have her own children's hospital.

As part of the award, Garrod and Hammel received $5,000 scholarships from a grant made possible by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, in addition to the trip.

During the week in Washington, D.C., two students from each state and the District of Columbia, as well as two students from the Department of Defense Education Activity program, will go through an intensive study of the federal government, focusing on the U.S. Senate.

Arrangements have been made to meet with some of the nation's most visible politicians, including members of President George W. Bush's Cabinet, Murkowski said.