Malad High senior and student body president to pursue a career away from home

MALAD CITY — Brynlee Bastian is a senior at Malad High School. She is currently serving as her school’s student body president and is between seasons as a member of both the cross-country and track teams.

Bastian has been involved in student government since she was in sixth grade. Asked what it is that brings her back year after year, she said it is the opportunity to be a voice for her classmates who are too shy to use their own.

“I love being able to be a voice for others,” she told EastIdahoNews.com. … “I also love school unity — I love doing events for students and even for teachers, just to bring school unity.”

Despite devoting so much of her time to the student body, Bastian is a member of both the cross-country and track teams. As one might expect from a cross-country runner, when track season comes along, she is a middle-distance runner — competing in the 200 meter, 400 meter and 800 meter races.

An athlete and student council representative in a small town, Bastian said she knows everyone at school — and most people in town — by first name. So, in a few months, when she graduates and leaves Malad, she expects a huge culture shock.

Her plan is to head to Logan, Utah, where she will attend one semester at Utah State University before serving an LDS mission.

After her mission, which she hopes to serve in Hawaii, she will return to Utah State and earn a degree in exercise science.

The end goal, she explained, is a career in physical therapy — where she can combine a love for athletics and helping others.

A few short months from embarking on that journey, Bastian, who like both her parents, was raised in Malad, is “excited and nervous” for the “unknown” that awaits.

“I’m excited. (Malad) is all I’ve ever know — it’s all been pretty small. When I go to camps for sports or for student council … seeing a totally different atmosphere makes me so excited.”

It will be the first time in her life, she said, that a family member — parent, sibling, aunt, uncle or cousin — will not be three minutes away.

Bastian believes that she will end up back in southeastern Idaho — if not all the way home to Malad. But she does not expect to return until later in life, when she has established her career — or is ready to end it.