MILLVILLE, UT—When thinking about school involvement and a genuine desire to connect with as many of her peers as possible, Ridgeline High School administrators, faculty and staff quickly though about The Logan Cache Rich Credit Union Student Spotlight RHS, Junior Makenna Peterson.
“She’s always happy,” RHS AP History teacher Kylie Funk said. “She’s just smiling and wants to contribute positively to, like, really any situation.”
Administrators and faculty have described Makenna as humble and unassuming. They said that although most of the amazing things she does go unnoticed, they know she does them out of the goodness of her heart and not for recognition.
“For me, it’s all about connecting with people,” Makenna said. “I love making new friends and getting to know people and getting to know as many people as I can because I just love meeting everyone. I really enjoy spending time with people.”
Makenna’s involvement at RHS is admirable. She is a part of the student council as the diversity representative and as the school year ends, she looks forward to continue to serve in the student council as the secretary.
As the Diversity Rep, Makenna works with different groups at Ridgeline to ensure they feel included. She helps plan diversity events like Diversity Week and the Latin Dance.
“That has truly been a passion project for me this year,” Makenna said. “I have loved my role so much and I’ve gotten to know so many new people from it.”
Next school year, Makenna will help organize the student council by record keeping, planning events and assemblies while ensuring everything is running smoothly as student council secretary.
“When you serve in student government, you’re committing to a year long service project,” Funk said. “I think for Makenna, she genuinely wants to serve the school.”
Makenna is also the president and founder of the RHS Book Club which has about 50 active members.
“When I first came to Ridgeline, my freshmen year, I was so excited because I was so excited to join a book club and then I realized there wasn’t one,” Makenna said. “I was a little upset so I just decided, well if there isn’t one, I’m going to make one.”
In addition to student council and book club, Makenna is also in RHS’ Diversity Class where Makenna says the class learns about different cultures and difficulties different groups may face such as racism, sexism as well as other obstacles.
According to Brittney Peterson, Makenna’s mom, even if Makenna was not involved in the organizations she’s a part of, she would still be present at an event, activity or sports anything.
“This isn’t fake. This isn’t her just trying to mark off a to-do list,” Peterson said. “She really truly wants to help run that school and she appreciates all the work that the adults in her life put forth to make the school as great as it is and she wants to be there.”
Peterson describes Makenna as social, kind, all-inclusive, bubbly and talkative.
“She looks out for everybody,” Peterson said. “If there is somebody that she notices who seems to be alone or doesn’t have a place, she has a way about her that she can bring them in without making it seem like it’s a big deal.”
RHS administrators, faculty and staff often see Makenna greeting everyone with a welcoming smile.
“I feel like serving people I really get the opportunity to kind of appreciate the connections and the friendships I am making,” Makenna said. “For me, it’s all about helping out others and being able to be involved in other people’s lives.”
Peterson said Makenna does not have social media and says Makenna has expressed that she has never felt like she’s missing out and has been able to use that energy to creating lasting friendships and focusing on things that really matter to her.
“As parents, we felt strongly that it wasn’t something kids and teens needed to be exposed to constantly,” Peterson said. “We wanted her to be able to focus on making connections in person.”
Peterson said although motivation is not an issue, Makenna holds herself to an incredibly high standard and if she doesn’t reach the standard, she’s really hard on herself.
“Motivation is not an issue,” Peterson said. “We just have to let her know that sometimes you need a day to sit back and do nothing.”
In her free time, Peterson said Makenna looks forward to taking their family dog Cubby on daily walks around the neighborhood.
“She says the walks are especially helpful on extra stressful days,” Peterson said. “She looks forward to our pup’s excitement and the fresh air and socialization she gets from neighbors as she walks through all the neighborhoods.”
As Makenna looks to the future, she sees herself as a high school history teacher who also has the ability to teach English. She hopes to go to Utah State University to earn her teaching degree with a minor in English.
“I want to be a teacher because I want to really connect with my students,” Makenna said.
Makenna said she thinks history is probably the most impactful subject because we have a lot to learn from history. She believes education in history helps break down barriers.
Before she can make it to USU, Makenna has one year left at RHS and she says she looks forward to meeting new people and continue to be involved.
“I love Ridgeline so much,” Makenna Said. “I love how involved I am because I genuinely love the people at Ridgeline and I am so happy for my position in the Ridgeline community and I cannot wait for next year to get to know people.”