Mountlake Terrace High School’s Students of the Month for March: Collin Rhodes, Maddie Dellinger

Mountlake Terrace High School’s Students of the Month for March are Collin Rhodes and Maddie Dellinger.

Collin Rhodes
Collin Rhodes

Student Name: Collin Rhodes
Mother’s Name: Ruth Rhodes
Father’s Name: Craig Rhodes
GPA: 3.959
Clubs & Activities: I was on the Mountlake Terrace boys’ tennis team all four years of high school. I also was the bass player in the rhythm section of the Mountlake Terrace Jazz Ensemble 2 my sophomore year and Jazz Ensemble 1 my junior and senior years.
Athletics: I started to play tennis my freshman year, made it to the varsity team part of the way through my sophomore season, and was the captain of the varsity team my junior and senior year. I also ride dirt bikes with my family and friends, doing all-day rides in the mountains and camping trips as well as participating in the annual Dessert 100 Poker Run in Odessa, Washington in the spring.
Honors: I have taken Honors English 10, Honors Biology, Honors Algebra 2, Honors Pre-calculus, AP Calculus, AP Physics, AP Chemistry, and Jazz Ensemble 1.
Awards: Two-time MTHS Tennis captain, three Varsity Tennis Letters, finalist for MTHS Pre-Engineering Program Student Leadership Award, placed third in the Swing Central Jazz Festival in Savannah Georgia, performed in the Hot Java Cool Jazz concert at the Paramount Theater in Seattle twice.
Community Service: Throughout my high school years, I have been very involved with my church and youth group, volunteering to lead worship for the youth group and main service and being a main speaker on multiple occasions. I have also helped with the setup, teardown, and managing of many events, been a leader for Vacation Bible School, and participated in other service opportunities like picking up trash around town and helping others in the community.
Significant School Project: One of the most significant school projects of mine is teaching the class for a day. This was in my Honors English 10 class, which was my first English class in public school and the hardest class I ever took. My friend and I partnered up to teach the class about Black Holes. We had to research the topic we chose and take extensive notes so that we could make a detailed, descriptive PowerPoint presentation for the rest of the class, who would then have to fill out a worksheet that we designed based on our lesson. Some other significant school projects come from my involvement with jazz band. We participate in many festivals and competitions and these require a lot of practicing in preparation and they are usually all-day events. One festival we attended was the Newport Jazz Festival at Newport High School and we took first place both years that I went. We also played in the Swing Central Jazz Festival in Savannah Georgia and placed third among other bands from across the country. It was a great experience and we got to stay in Savannah for about a week. We explored the city, went to concerts of famous musicians, worked with the famous musicians, and performed in the jazz festival.
Current Employment: I have been a tutor for three elementary school boys since 2011 and I advise, teach, and help them with their homework, reading, math, writing, science, music, and special projects. They have been great to work with and I have been very blessed throughout the years to have a flexible job that works with my schedule and one that can be enjoyable. We have even played basketball and football together as well as other various games and sports.
Future Educational Goals: My plan was to pursue a mechanical engineering degree through George Fox University in Oregon, and I even got accepted with their highest merit scholarship of $15,000/year, but that will leave me with about another $20,000/year to go there and I do not have the money to do that so a very likely option for me is to start at Edmonds Community College and transfer to a university. That could be George Fox, but it could also be another university. I’m still checking out some local colleges, like Cascadia Community College and UW, and I also found out recently that WSU has a campus at Everett Community College.
Future Career Goals: I would like to become a mechanical engineer, but I am open to other kinds of engineering as well. Working at a place like Boeing would be great, but my ideal job is working with an organization like Engineering Ministries International (EMI) and using my skills, knowledge, and experience to help needy families around the world take a step toward a better life.
Anything else we should know? A highlight of my education was participating last year in the Washington Aerospace Scholars program for high school juniors across the state. It is a rigorous and competitive educational program based out of The Museum of Flight in Seattle. It has a focus on space and space exploration and gives students a way to further their interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields. For phase one, I completed an online college-level course, and then qualified for phase two, as one of a select number of students invited to a residency program at The Museum of Flight for a week. We split into teams, mentored by professional engineers, that competed with each other in hands-on engineering challenges and worked together to design a manned mission to Mars. We also toured places like The Museum of Flight, Boeing, and Alaska Airlines. I met a lot of experienced engineers, got a reference from the Director of Digital Learning at The Museum of Flight, and was selected by my team’s mentor to participate in an in-depth job shadow and tour of the Boeing facility in Renton.

Madeline Dellinger
Madeline Dellinger

Student Name: Maddie Dellinger
Mother’s Name: Darci Dellinger
Father’s Name: Robert Dellinger
GPA: 3.78
Clubs & Activities: I participate in FCCLA at Mountlake Terrace. Outside of school I sing in the Seattle Girls’ Choir in their top group Prime Voce. I’ve been with the organization for 10 years now and have had the opportunity to tour internationally with them as well as record a CD and preform on the radio. I’m also a member of National Honors society at Mountlake Terrace.
Athletics: I ran three years of varsity cross country and am now participating in my fourth year of track. I had the pleasure of being cross country captain for three years and was honored to run at state my junior and senior year with the girls’ cross country team.
Honors: Distance Runner of the year – Track 2012; Cross Country Captain-2012, 2013, 2014; Coaches award – Cross country 2013; Coaches award – Track 2013
Awards: Dussault Scholar- Gonzaga University; Vocal Scholarship- Gonzaga University; Athlete of the month- MTHS sports boosters December 2014
Community Service: I volunteer with the Seattle Girls’ Choir throughout the year, besides my internship. I’ve also had the opportunity to volunteer around my community by assisting with elementary and middle school track meets. I also volunteer through FCCLA when I’m not in a sports season. Lastly, I volunteered as fifth grade camp counselor with Martha Lake Elementary school for several days.
Current Employment: I have a paid internship with the Seattle Girls’ Choir where I assist with one of the younger choirs of the organization, helping them with their music theory as well as voice techniques.
Future Educational Goals: Next year I will be attending Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington with a major of Pre-law.
Future Career Goals: As of right now I want to study law, specifically Human rights law.

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