GHS junior Keira Schaefer has always loved science. Her passion began when she was just four years old when her family took her to Yellowstone national park. The hotsprings there fascinated her the most and she practically begged her parents to take her back some day. Five years later when she was nine, she did go back, and found something shocking. She discovered a gigantic hoard of tiny creatures that she had never seen before in her life. Keira said there were so many grouped together that it looked like they were one organism. Her family was at a loss for what these things could be. Keira was determined to find out so she went to a park ranger, but he had no idea what it could be either. He gave her a Montana University professor’s email and told her to contact this person. Keira took lots of pictures and went home with a goal to figure out the identity of her find.
When Keira got home from her trip, she immediately contacted this professor and they ended up having many different conversations with each other. The professor said Keira’s find was likely a group of microorganisms that combine to form one. She was very impressed with Keira’s passion for this field so she invited her to attend a summer program about microorganisms. Unfortunately Keira couldn’t go so the professor instead sent her a humongous package to her house containing all kinds of neat equipment to study microorganisms with. This was when Keira’s passion for biology really took off.
This experience made Keira realize just how much she enjoyed this field. “I ended up making a presentation about micro organisms and presented it to my school,” Keira said. Keira’s parents also love biology too. “My dad would always quiz me on animal facts growing up, and he taught me most of the math I know today.” Keira also visited Australia two times and has been to kangaroo island, which is a wildlife hotspot.
Not only does Keira venture off to places around the world, but she also takes many advanced math related courses here at GHS. Senior Sophia Garceau met her when she was a junior and Keira was a sophomore. According to Sophia, they were in the same calculus class with only juniors and seniors. Keira was the only sophomore there and excelled in that class. “From what I’ve seen, Keira is good at everything that she does,” said Sophia.
When Keira graduates from GHS, she wants to follow in her fathers footsteps and be an electrical engineer. Math and science have always interested her and it’s helped form close relationships with her family. Physics is Keira’s favorite subject, and she wants to spend her life in that field.
