2022 – Addison Dittmar – HWRA – Herriman HS

In January of 2020, my sophomore year, I was in an auto accident that resulted in a severe brain injury and a very long recovery. As I recovered, I remember that the only thing that I wanted to do was get back to school. While the doctors expected me to be out the rest of the year, I was able to head back to school less than two months later. Unfortunately, it was only a couple of weeks after that that the schools were shut down for the year due to COVID. I still ended the year with all A’s, and a couple of awards for my GPA. During my junior year, I chose to be homeschooled so that I could travel the country with my family. When returning to school for my senior year, I realized that I was missing a lot of credits to graduate. So instead of going the typical senior route and only having a couple of classes, I have a full schedule so that I can ensure that I will graduate. Despite my struggles, I would not trade my high school experience for anything. It has taught me lessons that I could not have learned any other way.