Idaho FALLS – Ava White graduated salutatorian from the Idaho Technical Career Academy (ITCA) last week. Earlier this month, she graduated with honors from the College of Eastern Idaho, earning an associate of science degree in general studies.
Having spent the last four years devoting much of her free time to studies (working up to 18 hours a day on schoolwork, according to her father Dain White), Ava will take yet another class this summer. Then in the fall, she will attend Idaho State University, majoring in nuclear engineering.
“I always knew I was interested in science,” Ava said when asked what drew her to the field. “She wanted to do a lot of things in my life and it seemed like science was really the way to do it.”
Ava was born in northern Idaho, Moscow. Her family moved to Idaho Falls when she was 10 years old. That’s when INL and a possible scientific career came into focus. Graduating from high school having already earned an associate degree is an achievement in her aspirations for a position at INL. She and she credit ITCA for achieving this.
She was born with a trio of medical conditions (hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, and Raynaud’s syndrome) that made ITCA’s online classes much easier for her.
Among other symptoms, Ava told EastIdahoNews.com, she regularly suffers from dizziness and nausea, and her body sometimes has trouble with cold weather. Therefore, being able to attend class without having to walk in the snow is enormously convenient since she doesn’t have to “fight (her) disabilities every day” to get to school.
Additionally, Ava began attending ITCA, which has long held classes online and perfected remote education operations, in 2020, when other schools were having to figure out how to do it.
When asked what plans lie ahead for her after earning a bachelor’s degree in nuclear engineering, Ava said she plans to continue her higher education journey. As for where, she said she doesn’t expect to leave Idaho, but that she would if the right circumstances were met.
“I really like Idaho. If I can find a better school to go to, I’ll definitely go wherever the wind takes me. But I’m definitely not looking forward to leaving Idaho,” she said.
When she has free time, Ava enjoys the outdoors (symptoms permitting), as well as playing games and listening to music.
“I spend a lot of time on weekends working on schoolwork, but I really like camping and hiking. I am also passionate about music. “I love playing music and I always have time to go to concerts,” she said.
Ava has been playing the marimba, which is similar to a xylophone, since she was five years old, and more recently, she began playing the accordion, kalimba, and piano. When asked what kind of music she likes, Ava said that she is a big fan of punk music.
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