Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home High School seniors Kristen Peterson and Colton Schilling have been selected as Sweet Home High School’s Junior First Citizens for 2012.
They attended interviews in Lebanon on Oct. 16 as candidates for Linn County Junior First Citizen. Winners will be announced at a candidates’ luncheon to be held on Nov. 6.
Candidates and the Linn County Junior First Citizens will participate in the Nov. 10 Veterans’ Day Parade in Albany.
Peterson is the daughter of Lori Hay and Bob Briana. She has lived in Sweet Home for 12 years. She has older siblings, a half-brother, stepbrother, and a stepsister.
“I feel awesome about it,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. Just having the title is kind of surreal.”
At SHHS, she has been involved in many activities. She has participated in the Drama Club for three years, been on the Huskian staff for four and the Yearbook staff for two years. She also participated in golf one year and volleyball one year.
This year, Peterson is the manager for the volleyball team. She also has been heavily involved in Amnesty International for three years, Book Club for two years, class board for two years and the Make a Change group for the one year it has existed.
Peterson’s GPA of 3.82 has enabled her to be a member of National Honor Society, on the Academic Honor Roll from 2006 to 2012, to be an Academic All-American from 2009 to 2011 and to be student of the month three times in the past two years.
Outside of school, she has been involved in Sweet Home’s annual clean up day, the Oregon Jamboree, Vacation Bible School, the youth group at Hillside Fellowship and volunteering at the Sweet Home Emergency Ministries food bank.
After high school, Peterson plans on attending the University of Oregon and working toward a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Her long-term goal is to become a certified genetic counselor, working with children who have genetic disabilities, in a hospital setting.
Schilling is the son of Steve and Patricia Schilling. He is a lifelong resident of Sweet Home and has a younger brother and a younger sister.
“It’s an honor to be among those few that get junior first citizen,” he said.
In addition to his school work, athletics and volunteer activities, he helps out at home by feeding and caring for livestock and horses and chopping firewood.
Schilling is a varsity wrestler and football player at SHHS, part of the Make a Change group, a member of National Honor Society and Student Body Elections Officer.
His freshman year, he was Freshman Boy of the Year. Schilling is also an Academic All-American. In athletics, he is a two-time Oregon Dairy Farmers Academic All-State award winner, and a three-time Reser’s Fine Foods Scholar Athlete award winner.
In addition to school activities, Schilling is also active in church and the community. He has participated in the Sharing Hands Annual fundraiser, volunteered at the SHEM food bank, attends Community Chapel and is a Church on the Road volunteer. He also participated in the Yamhill-Carlton Domestic Abuse Shelter Building Project and is an Oregon Jamboree volunteer.
With his 3.93 GPA, Schilling plans to attend a Division I school, likely Stanford, Cal Poly or Oregon State University, on a wrestling scholarship and major in either mechanical or civil engineering.
He hopes to travel to other countries to provide support designing and building infrastructure to improve living conditions and economies in those countries.