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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Kaia Jensen
By JoEllen Collins for The Weekly Sun
Wood River High School junior Kaia Jensen holds a GPA of 4.0 and is taking four AP classes: AP Calculus, AP Biology, AP Psychology and AP Language Arts.
“I have an interest in neurology, so studying psychology has been fascinating,” Jensen said. “I would like to be involved in neuroscience, maybe research. But right now I’m just excited to expand my knowledge.”
Jensen is also consumed with her passion for mountain biking.
“For two years I have been co-captain of the Wood River bike team, composed of students from our high school and also from The Sage School and Community School,” she said. “We are part of the NICA, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, and the team has won State twice in a row.”
“I love to coach,” Jensen said. “I do some coaching on the mountain bike team—coach and run mountain bike camps—and I helped lead weekly women’s rides with Sturtevants over the summer. In addition, I help coach the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation’s U12 North Series team.”
Jensen raced on the U19 FIS team on the SVSEF for the 2016-17 season, winning the Leif Odmark Award for good sportsmanship and the True North Scholarship Award for an application essay on passion. She was one of three winners.
“Our team traveled to ski areas like Mammoth Mountain, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, and Schweitzer Mountain Resort,” Jensen said. “By going to such places and being a member of the team, I learned independence skills, like how to keep track of myself and my equipment. At the age of 10 or 11, ski team kids travel with the team without their parents, which develops maturity and responsibility early.”
Jensen’s athletic family is fully involved in sports.
“My dad is the head coach of the U12 Mini-World Cup team, and is an avid mountain biker,” she said. “My mom, also a serious mountain biker, Nordic skis, competing in local races and out-of-town races such as the American Birkebeiner, one of the longest cross-country races in North America. My younger sister, Anja, Nordic skis and mountain bikes. She competed at Junior Nationals in 2017 and, among other top finishes, placed eighth in the classic sprints as a first-year U16, and is continuing that streak. She also placed second in Varsity in the NICA High School Mountain Bike series.”
In addition to academics and sports, Jensen has other passions.
“I am excited about starting an internship with NAMI [National Alliance on Mental Illness] this year. I am also a member of Wood River High School’s Amnesty International club.”
In addition, Jensen has an art business creating line drawings in detailed patterns featuring images such as Idaho. Her work can be found at @fine_ink_ on Instagram.
Whatever life poses, Jensen says she’s open to its challenges.
“I don’t have false expectations but am so grateful for the strength given to me by my parents, friends, school and the community,” she said.