Student in the Spotlight: Ellie Holm

Freshman, Ellie Holm is a great new member of Cascade High School. She loves being outside, hiking, or traveling to new states and countries with her family. She does well in school, loves her classes, and is making the most of online school.

Ellie’s hobbies include hiking, yoga, spending time outside birdwatching, and spending time with friends and family. Ellie is very family-oriented and is very close with them. When asked who inspired her, Ellie answered, “I look up to my dad and mom a lot. We share the same hobbies, and they inspire me to travel the world and get outside.”

One of Ellie’s most interesting passions is ballet. She is currently taking ballet classes in Leavenworth from the Edelweiss Dance Academy. Ellie has been doing ballet since she was three years old and she said, “I didn't get serious about ballet until I around seven, but I love the artistic expression and the feeling of constantly improving and becoming aware of the movement of every part of your body. You have to focus on everything from the placement of your pinky finger to the exact position of your shoulder blade. There is literally no way to think about anything else than your movement, so it is a perfect escape from the stress and difficulties of everyday life.”

Alongside ballet, Ellie also enjoys other outside activities and sports. “I Nordic ski, not competitively, and hike a lot with my family. I mostly like these activities because my family does them a lot and I love spending time with them. I also really enjoy being outside and seeing beautiful places.” Ellie also said she loves to travel: “My family has taken trips to Guatemala for a month, New Hampshire, and backpacking in Canada.”

Sports aren’t where Ellie’s determination to succeed stops. She also does very well in her classes, always staying on top of her work. Ellie said, “I’m really enjoying Geometry with Mr. Mendoza. I like working through the problems and it’s really fun when you know how to do all of the steps perfectly.”

When asked about Ellie, Mr. Mendoza, who has her in IPC and Geometry, said, “The first thing that that pops in my head when I think about Ellie Holm has to be that she is genuinely a nice human being. She is humble, generous, and kind. On top of all that she is an extremely good student. She works hard and has awesome note taking abilities. She is often the first one to answer questions in class and consistently provides helpful feedback.”

Mr. Fraker, Ellie’s P.E teacher said, “Ellie has shown excellent consistency in PE during these difficult times by uploading her PE Fitness videos to Canvas on a regular basis. She always meets the expectations set in the class.” She is not letting Covid-19 impact her diligence in her classes. She takes school very seriously and, consequently, does well.

Freshman Mary Ising, who is friends with Ellie, said, “Ellie is a really good person. She’s nice to everyone and makes everyone feel good about themselves when they’re with her.”

Freshman Isabel Menna is also friends with Ellie and said, “She is one of a kind. She has a great sense of humor and doesn't take herself too seriously. She's a studious bookworm and outdoorsy and I can't wait to spend the rest of high school with her."

Right now, Ellie is working as a babysitter for family-friends. She really enjoys spending time and playing with young kids, and said, “They are some of the silliest, most light-hearted people I know.” Ellie thinks babysitting has taught her that life shouldn't be taken too seriously, and that we should all laugh more.

When Ellie graduates high school, she wants to go to a “Liberal Arts School. Something that has a dance program and philosophy.” She said her dream career would be “Something where I could travel, maybe an anthropologist.”

Ellie is known by her loved ones to be friendly and kind. She is going to thrive at Cascade because of those qualities.

Has Ellie inspired you? Leave a comment below to let us know.