This week for the senior spotlight we will be showcasing Brayden Dirks. Brayden lives in Marcus with his family: Bryan(dad), Krista(mom), Mahaley (sister), Dylan (brother), Aubrey(sister). Next year, Brayden Dirks plans on attending college while majoring in exercise science, and potentially running track and cross country.
Brayden has been in many activities over his high school years. He has been in basketball for four years(lettered sophomore year), cross country for four years(lettered junior and senior year), track for four years(lettered freshman and junior year), speech for two years(lettered junior year), National Honors Society for two years, 4H for four years, SkillsUSA for four years, baseball for two years, school newspaper for one year, and choir in freshman year. Dirks was All-District in track his freshman year in the 4x800m relay, along with being All-District his junior year in the 3200m run and the 1600m run. His junior year, he was All-Conference in the 1600m and 3200m. In speech, he received a division one rating in TV news his junior year. Brayden has also received many academic awards. He has won the Top 5 Percent-War Eagle Conference Award every year, along with being top 5 in the senior class every year academically. Brayden has been on the Principal’s Honor Roll every year, along with the High Honor Roll every year.
He says that some of his favorite memories from high school were his first cross country meet junior year, going to watch state basketball games with the team, AP US History, laughing in class all the time, and having fun at practice. Brayden says his greatest accomplishment in high school was maintaining a 4.0 GPA while still being heavily involved in activities. He also says his running accomplishments are very important to him. Brayden’s favorite year of high school was senior year because it is the final year, everyone is getting along very well, and he is interested to see where everyone will go next year. In his free time, Brayden stays connected to sports and physical activities. His passions are to run, lift weights, swim, bike, and watch sports. His favorite song is “Far Away” by Breaking Benjamin, favorite shows are The Mandalorian and Stranger Things, favorite movies is Pirates of the Caribbean and The Waterboy, and his favorite food is peanut butter sandwiches. His biggest fear is the dark, and a mild fear of heights, and his biggest pet peeve is when people are lazy.
Dirks’s biggest piece of advice to underclassmen is to work hard at everything you do and don’t take academics for granted, as they are what will get you far in life. He also says to do everything you can high school as it will benefit you in the long run. His last piece of advice to everyone is to find a passion and run with it, it will change every aspect of your life for the better. He wants to be remembered as a person who worked as hard as possible at everything and led by example. He hopes to become a strength and conditioning coach for a sports team, a pro runner, and a running coach in the future.