Malad High senior is a three-sport athlete who dreams of teaching
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MALAD CITY — Oaklie Hebdon is a senior at Malad High School. She is a member of the cross-country, track and basketball teams and is an aspiring high school teacher.
Hebdon has been playing basketball since she was in fifth grade but considers her primary sport to be track — where she competes in the 300-meter hurdles, long jump and triple jump. She told EastIdahoNews.com that she is currently in conversations with multiple schools about the possibility of competing for them next season.
Wherever she attends college, Hebdon plans on majoring in secondary education and hopes to become a high school teacher one day.
She said she “always liked the idea” of teaching, adding that the though of teaching in high school was a newer revelation.
“I don’t know if I’d have the patience for little kids — I had originally wanted to do elementary,” Hebdon said.
In addition to excelling on the court and track, Hebdon takes her classes very serious and is currently enrolled in several dual-credit courses. In fact, when she graduates from high school this spring, she will do so just one credit shy of an associates degree in general studies.
In the summer, Hebdon exchanges the classroom for the vast outdoors.
She enjoys camping and spends her summer months working on the U.S. Forest Services camp crew in Bear Lake. As a member of the camp crew, Hebdon helps construct, maintain and break down campsites used by wildland firefighters while they are fighting fires. Her duties also see her handing out supplies.
Hebdon said she loves the work, while also acknowledging it will make for excellent resume fodder one day.
Having grown up on the outskirts of an already small town — Malad — Hebdon is familiar with the small-town lifestyle, and is excited but also nervous about the prospect of moving to a university town.
“Being close to grocery stores, and everything, will be weird,” she said.