Standout Student: Wayzata High’s Audrey Koehler
To fully understand the world around you, it helps to get outside of your bubble. For Wayzata High School Senior Audrey Koehler, her advanced placement Spanish class is a big first step.
“I think language helps us relate to others,” Koehler said. “Not only in just being able to speak or converse, or at least understand, but also in understanding culture.”
Koehler hopes to pursue a Spanish minor in college, with the goal of studying or volunteering abroad.
But she’s not waiting until she gets to college to make a global impact.
“I happened to walk by here one afternoon after school, and I could not believe the buzz that was going on in here,” said Sue Iverson, Wayzata’s gifted and talented coordinator.
Iverson is referring to a project Koehler led on behalf of the organization, ‘Days for Girls.’
Days for Girls Volunteer Effort
“It’s named Days for Girls because they’re making reusable menstrual kits for women and girls who don’t have access to these products,” Koehler said.
As part of her National Honor Society leadership project, Koehler and a dozen classmates put together the kits using donated fabric. The kits are then sent to Haiti.
“It’s just something that kind of happened to fall into my lap,” Koehler said. “And I continued on with that for my own personal interest rather than to meet some requirement or impress somebody else.”
The Days for Girls project is just one example of how Koehler gives back.
In addition, she and a few other Wayzata students periodically visit a Plymouth senior living home to lead dance fitness classes and give the occasional performance.
“There are always those kids that stand out as extra special, and Audrey will always be one of those extra special students to me,” Iverson said.
She’s an extra special student who’s just scratching the surface of how to positively impact the world around her.
“An amazing young woman,” Iverson said. “She’s one I’m going to miss.”
Next year, Koehler plans to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison where she plans to major in marketing and minor in Spanish. Her goal is to one day work for a nonprofit.
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