{"id":10833,"date":"2019-03-22T18:02:45","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T18:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=10833"},"modified":"2019-03-22T18:02:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T18:02:45","slug":"andrew-garratt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/22\/andrew-garratt\/","title":{"rendered":"ANDREW GARRATT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thrives by giving back to others<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Emilee Mae Struss<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
WRHS senior Andrew Garratt is charging forward with his passion for singing and psychology\u2014one irregular heartbeat at a time. Photo credit: Hillary Maybery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

W<\/span>ood River High School senior Andrew Garratt has a big heart for people and a passion for singing. This past year he also discovered something very different about his heart. He has a condition called cardio-neurogenic syncope.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI discovered this when I was working at the airport on a really expensive plane,\u201d Garratt said. \u201cI was on top of a ladder cleaning and then all of a sudden I woke up in an ambulance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Garratt\u2019s heart rate slows down and causes him to pass out in order for regular blood flow to return to the heart. Following the accident, Garratt received several injuries, including a concussion. He now has a pacemaker, which regulates his heart rate. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s OK now,\u201d Garratt said. \u201cI\u2019ve had a pacemaker for one year.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

However, his heart condition has definitely changed his life. Garratt played varsity boys basketball for two years at WRHS and was also a pilot, neither of which doctors will allow him to continue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Letting these things go was a challenge for Garratt but he has other talents that he\u2019d like to pursue. Garratt loves acting and singing. He discovered his passion for singing in fifth grade when he auditioned for and received a lead role in a Christmas play. He got to play Santa Claus. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI realized after playing that part that I really like being on stage and singing,\u201d Garratt said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garratt is involved in a cappella, a group that uses only sounds from voices and no instruments to make music. The B-Tones, an all-male choral group, and opera with the Sun Valley Summer Symphony are the ensembles Garratt performs with. He recently returned from districts with his choir group from WRHS and received not only first in his category of solo baritones, but also the best overall score for the entire competition.<\/span><\/p>\n

In school, Garratt is enrolled in Advanced Placement Government, Advanced Placement Environmental Science, College English, Spanish III and Choir. He has a 3.6 GPA and is proud to say he leads a pretty well-rounded life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garratt is also involved in W.A.T.E.R Club, an environmental club; Next Generation Politics, a club that teaches about government and political parties; and the Bluebirds, a youth club in partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) that brings awareness to mental health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next year Garratt plans to attend Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.,\u00a0 <\/span>and plans to major in psychology with a minor in behavioral neuroscience. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think people are the most fascinating thing on this planet,\u201d Garratt said. \u201cI love helping people and learning how people work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Garratt says that his Advanced Placement Psychology teacher, Joel Zellers, inspires him to learn more about the human brain and how humans operate.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI decided that if I can\u2019t fly, I\u2019m going to pursue something in psychology,\u201d Garratt said. \u201cAnd in the future, I just hope to be able to give. Biologically, we are selfish creatures, but I think one way to achieve enlightenment is to give to others.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Anyone who would like to recommend a Blaine County School District student for The Weekly Sun\u2019s \u201cStudent Spotlight\u201d feature should contact Emilee Struss at emilee.struss@gmail.com.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thrives by giving back to others By Emilee Mae Struss Wood River High School senior Andrew Garratt has a big heart for people and a passion for singing. This past year he also discovered something very different about his heart. He has a condition called cardio-neurogenic syncope. \u201cI discovered this when I was working at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10833","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sponsored","8":"category-student-spotlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10833","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}