Combating negativity and violence by bolstering mental health.
Holly is closely attuned to others’ needs and uses her remarkable leadership, organization, and planning skills to implement effective solutions. Following multiple suicides at her school, Holly was instrumental in implementing the development of a new local chapter of an organization that teaches students coping mechanisms and communication skills. As president of the student council, she led an initiative to appreciate the service of local sheriffs and fire departments. As a board member for Paca Peace Ranch for Youth, she designed a fundraising initiative to invigorate sponsors. Holly has also helped younger students as a youth mentor, an aid for children’s theater productions, and through an innovative program giving children in need the opportunity to give holiday gifts to their parents.
Holly is deeply self-aware; she thinks critically about what motivates her, what she is passionate about, and how she spends her time. Holly developed these traits after losing her older sister and role model to a sudden illness, causing her to adjust her self-perception within her family. She found her voice in theater (performing lead roles at the Westcliffe Center for the Performing Arts), in singing (as a section leader in the Wet Mountain Valley Community Chorale and high school choir), and in music (both flute and bassoon for the Sangre de Cristo Community Band and high school band). She did all of this while earning straight A’s and working up to 20 hours a week serving coffee, selling newspapers, and feeding alpacas.
Leadership:
- Paca Peace Ranch for Youth board member
- Student council president
- Class president
- NHS President
- Theater lead roles
- Sources of Strength founding member
- Chorale section leader
- Children’s musical director
