Elizabeth Chelstad, 17, will be a senior at Sweet Home High School.
She is the daughter of John Chelstad.
At school, she plays soccer and basketball. In the community, she teaches Bible school and coaches children’s soccer camps.
“I wanted something beneficial to consume my spare time when not playing sports or working at A&W,” Chelstad said. “Sportsman’s Holiday Court was a perfect opportunity to do that and be immensely involved in my community.”
Her best friend would say she is “extroverted, very positive, inspiring” with “a strong work ethic,” Chelstad said.
After high school, she plans to attend Oregon State University and enter the medical field to become a pediatrician.
“My life goals are to excel in success,” Chelstad said. “I intend to graduate from OSU receiving a medical degree and going into pediatrics. Also to pursue having many charismatic friends and family in my life. I want to travel frequently and endlessly experience new things. My last goal is to be able to meet Katy Perry.”
For a trip around the world, the theme of Sportsman’s Holiday this year, “if I could travel anywhere in the world, it surprisingly would not be out of the country,” Chelstad said. It would simply be “New York City. Some people would have a perspective on avoiding a place like New York entirely because of the mass of people and every problematic-seeming factor to it, but those are the very reasons I strive to travel there.
“The diversity of the population and the vast amount of people would intrigue me as well as the immense amount of significant monuments located there to see and experience. Just standing in Times Square would be overwhelmingly satisfying for me. You could meet more people in a day than some people may ever encounter in their life.
“There is so much there to substantially expand my life experiences in New York, and it’s where I dream to travel and possibly one day live.”
Chelstad’s favorite thing about Sweet Home is how close and family like it is.
“It seems virtually impossible to go into a local store or restaurant or any public place in general in our town without bumping into at least one other individual you know and I absolutely love that,” she said.
“Our community is close and involved with our entire town and it’s comforting to know how many resources a person can have just because of where they live and the people where you live are close and dependable.
“Sweet Home’s community is like a family you’ve never had when we’re all brought together for constant occurrences and events – something a larger city could never have the privilege of experiencing.”