Leading By Example

The future of our city, state, and nation lies with in our high schools. How we teach our kids and the ones they look up to is the path they take to give themselves a better and stronger nation. Right here in Missoula Montana we have a melting pot of students that are preparing for their future and the betterment of society. One of the many prep students in the garden city that is paving their path to a better tomorrow is Brittany Delridge.

Brittany Delridge is a senior at Sentinel high school that has proven to be an example in the classroom and a leader as an athlete. Delridge is a multi-sport athlete that has been named the Gatorade Player of the Year on the soccer field, is the ultimate six man on the basketball court, and is a wall at the short stop position on the softball diamond. In addition to having three sports to keep her busy for the entire school year, she is also in student government, Key Club, DECCA, MUN, and is a Spartan ambassador for incoming freshman.

As an athlete Delridge is unmatched as a competitor. When her basketball coach Karen Deden was asked to describe Brittany she could only come up with two words, tenacious and relentless. Coach Deden has seen both of these traits in Delridge on the basketball court, “I think what’s fun in basketball she knows she has room for improvement and so she has a good attitude when she plays. But then when I go out and watch her on the soccer field, boy is she intense.” Some of that intensity and relentlessness would show itself on the basketball court during the 2016 Class AA State Tournament as she was everywhere on the court pushing the Lady Spartans to a third place game.

In the classroom she is an example for other students. Having been involved in student government since the fifth grade and was the junior class president her junior year, she has been in Key Club since her freshman year and was the president during her Junior year. With everything she has going on she also manages to keep a high grade point average. The down fall to being so active is that their is only so much time in the day and the free time she does get is spent with family. What would a day with no plans look like for Delridge, she answered with a giggle, “That’s the problem with free time, I feel like I have to be doing something. So I would just relax, get some food, and hang out with family and friends.”

In the fall of 2016 Brittany suffered a season ending injury on the soccer field which sidelined her for the basketball season and will keep her off the softball diamond. Even though she was not on the basketball court with her peers, Delridge was involved with the team from the sideline. Brittany will focus on rehabbing her knee and getting ready for school in the fall.

Brittany accepted an offer to play soccer for the Eastern Washington Eagles in the winter of 2016, and even though she suffered the knee injury the Eagles are going to honor her scholarship and red shirting her her freshman year. Her focus of study is in the business realm to follow after her mentor, “I want to be an entrepreneur like mom and her side of the family, they are great at managing business and stuff.”

With student athletes like Brittany Delridge striving to be an example to others and understanding the importance of giving back to our community, our future looks bright.