Youth Scholarship Winners
Each year, OPALCO selects five San Juan County students to represent OPALCO at the Youth Rally and to receive $1000 for their post high school education.
This year’s winners are:
Colter Bond
Colter Bond is a junior at Orcas Island High School. His main interests are geology, volcanology, and chess. He’s also really into fitness and does lots of hiking and weightlifting. A couple of fun facts are that he’s broken both of his legs (not at the same time) and hiked the 93-mile Wonderland Trail around Mt. Rainier (not with broken legs).
Gabe Chapman
Gabe Chapman is a sophomore at Orcas Island High School. He’s lived on Orcas for four years and is a track athlete. Music is a huge part of his life, and he hopes to study environmental sciences.
Wren Ontjes
Wren Ontjes is a sophomore at Orcas Island High School. She is passionate about community service, learning new skills, and meeting new people. She’s active in various school clubs like Next Generation, Key Club, and Environmental Club. She plays softball and soccer at OIHS, and participates in sailing. She’s also part of the school band. Wren enjoys going for runs, trying new foods, and hanging out with friends
Lucia Rios
Lucia Rios is a sophomore at Orcas Island High School. Lucia is involved in year-round sports, which keep her active and working toward new goals. Outside of athletics, she works at Mijitas, where she’s learned a lot about responsibility and teamwork. In her free time, she loves hanging out with friends and staying active through exercise.
Vera Schoultz
Vera Schoultz is a sophomore at Friday Harbor High School proudly born and raised on San Juan Island. Vera’s extracurricular activities include volleyball, basketball, and softball. She was the sophomore class representative in ASB as well as Key Club Secretary. Vera also enjoys spending time in the outdoors with her family, going on hikes, camping, and any/all friendly competitions with her two younger siblings.
Each year, one student is elected to return the following year to act as a leader to help run the Youth Rally. This year’s student director is Matthew Van Dyck.
Matthew Van Dyck
Matthew Van Dyck is a junior at Friday Harbor High School. He’s excited to return as a director for the ICUA Youth Rally. Next year, he’ll be studying abroad near Zurich, Switzerland through the Rotary Youth Exchange program. He works as a barista at Medio Café in Friday Harbor. He also loves traveling, skiing, going to the beach, playing soccer, hitting the gym, photography, and adventuring.
