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STUDENT SPOTLIGHT
Pablo Aguilar
By JoEllen Collins for The Weekly Sun
Pablo Aguilar, a senior at Wood River High School, is especially happy right now that his soccer team, the Wood River Wolverines, won the state championship, the first-ever Idaho High School Activities 4A Championship, and the first since the Wolverines won in 3A in 2003.
“We turned the doubters into believers,” Aguilar said. “We started off as a team and in the end we finished as family.”
Playing hard is something Aguilar enjoys.
“I like to work out and have a challenge. I want to have an athletic life, where I work to keep up my overall energy, push myself, and even be willing to put up a fight if necessary for my team. Being in sports is a wonderful way to have positive results for my efforts.”
Aguilar is also a lacrosse midfielder with the Wood River Warriors and plays volleyball with a Boise team, “Strike.”
“In order to be on this team, I spend two days of practice a week in the winter and many weekends for games,” he said. “Volleyball is my favorite sport, a place where I can run and feel free, experience the challenge of competition in tournaments like the one we just won in soccer and, most of all, be with other players who are friends and share my passion for athletics.”
Aguilar hopes to become a physical therapist or athletic trainer. He will attend his first two years in an in-state college but plans to matriculate elsewhere. When not hiking or playing on a team, Aguilar volunteers occasionally at the Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley and at other environmental nonprofits. He is also a student aide in the main office at the high school.
Aguilar’s favorite academic classes have also inspired his interest in writing. He credits teachers Sarah Allen and Stephanie Spindler with teaching him writing skills. He is now eager to translate his thoughts to paper.
“I’m thinking that maybe I could be a journalist and be able to write about the things I encounter in my life, like ecology and the outdoors,” he said.
Originally from Jerome but now living in Hailey, Aguilar was born a preemie at a hospital in Boise.
“My family has always been strong, but from that experience, and dealing with my mother’s cancer diagnosis, I can say that my most important belief is to value life.”
Fortunately, Aguilar’s mother caught the disease early and is now in remission.
“At first, after the bad medical news, I isolated myself a bit, but eventually reached out to my family, the Wood River High School faculty, my wide circle of friends, and neighbors like our close family friends, the Radfords,” Aguilar said. “These relationships helped me return to my true personality, that of a friendly, grateful and gregarious person.”
Each week, JoEllen Collins will be profiling a local high-school student. If you know someone you'd like to see featured, e-mail joellencollins1@gmail.com.