Two island students celebrate major extra-curricular accomplishments

By Anneli Fogt • February 7, 2017 1:30 am
Virginia Miller practices her signature for her college letter of intent at Annie Wright (left); Grace Riggs with her acceptance letter from the NAfME All-Northwest Orchestra (right). (Courtesy Photos)
Virginia Miller practices her signature for her college letter of intent at Annie Wright (left); Grace Riggs with her acceptance letter from the NAfME All-Northwest Orchestra (right). (Courtesy Photos)

With graduation five months away, Vashon seniors are beginning to think about their futures off the island and are accepting offers to colleges and being honored for extracurricular work. Vashon High School (VHS) senior Grace Riggs and islander Virginia Miller, who attends Annie Wright and is one of the best javelin throwers in the country, are two of the most recent local students to make these large strides.

Riggs, who has been playing the french horn for more than six years, has been accepted into the National Association for Music Education’s All-Northwest Orchestra and will perform in Bellevue later this month. She was one of 1,000 chosen from more than 4,600 students who applied to be a part of the All-Northwest performing groups. Reached Monday, Riggs said that she heard of the opportunity through VHS band teacher Dan Baker, after she discovered a scheduling conflict with her band class.

“I couldn’t take band because of it’s interference with my AP Calculus class,” she explained. “He asked if I had heard of this opportunity, so we worked on the application materials and sent it in. They (the pieces for the

application) were pretty hard and I only had two weeks to learn.”

She said the application was sent in in October and she received word just afterwinter break that she was accepted. Now, she’s back to rehearsing as she will perform alongside the other All-Northwest choirs and bands

Feb. 18. The All-Northwest performance groups are comprised of outstanding music students from Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. The Feb. 18 gala represents weeks of practice and serves as a chance for the students to perform under world-renowned conductors.

Riggs said she is looking at colleges with music programs and plans to continue playing, though will not be majoring in music.

Meanwhile, in sports news, Miller has accepted an offer to attend Stanford University in the fall where she will be part of the PAC-12 school’s track and field team. Miller is an accomplished javelin athlete and took home silver medals at the national Junior Olympic games in 2015 and 2016. Her father, Foss Miller, said Monday that she received scholarship offers from Stanford, Harvard and Yale, but decided not to take a scholarship and will attend Stanford where she will throw javelin for the Cardinal.

“She’s really excited and so are we,” Foss Miller said. “She will probably be the number three girl as a freshman so it will be good, she’ll have others to learn from.”

Foss Miller said Virginia is planning to major in international business and travel while going to college.