Mia Brown is a bright and dedicated student at Lakeland High School. She’s gone through a lot during her school career, going through personal struggles that make school hard to even show up for. But this year, Brown’s sophomore year, she sees and feels a big change.
Before she began her sophomore year, Brown struggled to make new friends and keep old ones. This really impacted how she did in school, her motivation for her sports, or simply just getting up every morning. Starting a new year, she felt it was going to be the same as the years prior, but eventually it turned out to be the best she’d had. She wanted a change, she didn’t want to wake up every morning dreading the long school day where she had nothing to look forward to. Although it started that way, she slowly got better friends who helped her through her every day.
Maddy Valli and Brielle Webster, as well as many of her other good friends, were where it all started. Being able to hang out with them, Brown slowly found more and more people whom she enjoyed hanging out with and brought reason to do better in school. Over time she felt she was able to put her all into school and the sports she loved.
Brown has dabbled in many sports over the years, from cheer and dance to basketball and soccer, but the only one that she truly loved was volleyball. She had started when she was two but then abruptly stopped when she moved to Idaho. She didn’t pick back up until watching one of her cousins’ tournaments that reignited her love for the sport. She played for the Lakeland volleyball team from 7th grade all the way to her freshman year of high school, then started playing for 208. She might switch clubs but hopefully keep the coaches. The coaches she has this year feel like they truly help her become a better player and support her through all the games and practices.
Getting closer to the next year, Brown’s junior year, she’s nervous and excited, she will be going to KTEC next year to do the CNA program, which is to be a certified nurse assistant. When she graduates from KTEC, she aspires to become an anesthesiologist or a pediatric nurse at Kootenai Health Hospital, where she currently volunteers. Working there should help her with her goal of buying her dream car, a Porsche. As well as overall saving up for college and her sport. She feels having those goals lined up will help her stay motivated and believes it is a good thing to have future goals in mind.
“Mia does her best in everything she does,” Jenna Hollis said.
Hollis has been one of Brown’s friends for a while and has seen her go through all of her ups and downs of life and is proud of who she has become.
When Brown first started volunteering there, she wanted to see how the hospital environment works. Like any hospital, it’s chaotic and can be overwhelming for many people. During her time there she was able to meet a lot of new people and was slowly able to get into the flow of how the hospital runs. She learned how to work with a team, which is essential for her job as well as other areas in her life
“My favorite part is to be able to bring flowers to people and see their faces light up,” Brown said.
As a volunteer, Brown brings visitors to their loved ones’ rooms and cleans to help the staff she works with get to their patients without having to worry about getting everything all cleaned up.