{"id":9648,"date":"2018-11-14T22:31:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-14T22:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=9648"},"modified":"2018-11-14T22:31:46","modified_gmt":"2018-11-14T22:31:46","slug":"russian-born-student-karina-stelck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/14\/russian-born-student-karina-stelck\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian-Born Student Karina Stelck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is thankful to live in the Wood River Valley<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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

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Karina Stelck dreams to one day become an Emergency Medical Technician. Courtesy photo by Maddy Hovey<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nineteen-year-old Russian native Karina Stelck said moving here and attending Wood River High School has allowed her to dream big for the first time in her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve experienced a lot of hard times in my life,\u201d Stelck said. \u201cBut every bad thing I\u2019ve dealt with I try to make it into a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stelck was raised partly by her birth mother and in a Russian orphanage before being adopted by a California couple 13 years ago.<\/p>\n

Life was better, but she felt restricted until her aunt and uncle, who live in the Wood River Valley, welcomed her into their home to give her a fresh start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so thankful for them,\u201d Stelck said. \u201cThey\u2019ve helped me so much and I feel like I can dream for the first time in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

A big part of WRHS is the \u2018Personal Project,\u2019 which students must complete before graduation. Taking the time to research her options led her away from the military and to work as an Emergency Medical Technician, or EMT.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that adrenaline that pushes me to work well under stress and remain calm,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stelck is currently training with the Ketchum Fire Department and, after graduation in 2019, she hopes to attend CSI or Central Community College, in Bend, Ore., to be an EMT and, eventually, a paramedic.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike most jobs, as an EMT you don\u2019t know what\u2019s coming tomorrow,\u201d Stelck said. \u201cThat\u2019s exciting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stelck is used to pushing her own limits as an athlete. She has played basketball for eight years and participated in track and field for four years. Last year she tried out for pole-vaulting and made it to the state championships in that event. This year Stelck plans to continue track and field but is giving up basketball to focus more on her newly discovered career path.<\/p>\n

Musicians like NF, a well-known Christian rapper, and other rap artists and hip-hop genres have had a great influence on Stelck. She listens to music and spends time in nature, which provide her with comforting metaphors for her life\u2019s situations.<\/p>\n

It was while watching a bird build its nest outside of her home here that she found a comparison to her own nesting. The bird, which she has named \u201cMama Kate,\u201d flies to that same location every spring to lay its eggs. Stelck said that one day, while she was watching the bird, she realized she, too, has found her home.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing to the Valley, I\u2019ve realized that unconditional love does exist and your dreams can someday become your reality,\u201d Stelck said.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s her plan\u2014to pursue her unhindered dreams and to simply \u201cgo with the flow of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is thankful to live in the Wood River Valley   By Emilee Mae Struss   Nineteen-year-old Russian native Karina Stelck said moving here and attending Wood River High School has allowed her to dream big for the first time in her life. \u201cI\u2019ve experienced a lot of hard times in my life,\u201d Stelck said. \u201cBut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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":[32,38,41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-schools","7":"category-sponsored","8":"category-student-spotlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9648","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=9648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}