The Sterling Scholar award that Hugh Kious, known by most as Leif, won takes more skill than meets the eye, even by Sterling Scholar standards. That’s because the award he won consists of numerous different categories and has some of the broadest criteria to meet of any in the entire program.
Kious won the Speech/Theater/Forensics Sterling Scholar, which already seems like a lot to conquer, but it’s even more than that. It brings in the entire drama and debate department.
Luckily for Kious, this trophy has been years in the making. With all of his training, it’s not too surprising that Kious not only won the Highland award, but also won first place statewide in his category.
“Starting freshman year, the only things I really did were theater and debate. I liked public speaking, and I liked performing,” Kious said. “Just so happened that four years later, I find that there’s a Sterling Scholar award that combines both of those categories.”
Kious is decorated in the theater and debate fields from his work over four years in the programs. The power of his voice has been a constant at Highland.
“I’ve been a member of the theater council for a while and I’ve done numerous musicals,” Kious said. “I’ve also been part of debate and I got first in state last year, and I have qualified for nationals twice.”
Although Kious is modest about his accomplishments, they are impressive. With years of practice under his belt, running for this Sterling Scholar was a no-brainer for Kious, and it also made his journey to winning much easier.
With so much practice around speaking in front of others, interviews have never served as a major issue during the Sterling Scholar process for Kious. But the competition ramped up significantly once Kious was competing with people from all over the state.
“We went over to East for the regional competition. I did a little presentation for them… it was very brief, but we had to wait to hear back from that for a while,” Kious said. “Then I went over to Hillcrest for the final interview.”
Although Kious makes it sound easy, the journey came with its fair share of challenges.
“I was told that I was going to have a different set of interviewers at Hillcrest, so I didn’t think that I needed to prepare a new presentation. This was false because for some reason they had the same interviewers,” Kious said. “Halfway through my presentation, which two of them had already seen, they asked me to do an improv routine.”
At this point, many could have most likely gone off the rails and abandoned the hope of going any further. Fortunately for Kious, improv is just another walk through the park.
“It was sort of theatrical, but basically I just reverted to Monty Python and the coconut joke,” Kious said. “It was a very bizarre interview experience. I don’t think I’ve ever had an interview quite like that.”
Obviously, it was just the bizarre that the interviewers were looking for because on April 16, Kious was crowned the state champion for the Speech/Theater/Forensics Sterling Scholar. The skills that Kious developed throughout his years at Highland will no doubt be a big support to him as he looks to enter higher education and eventually a career field. Not only that, but the things he has accomplished aren’t exactly going to hurt his resume.
“I could potentially do law. I might do theater as a hobby. I don’t think I would ever become a professional performer,” Kious said. “But I definitely want public speaking and performance to be part of my life.”
Kious plans on attending a school in Washington to hone his craft.
“He received a very prestigious full-ride scholarship to the University of Puget Sound called the Lillis scholarship,” Leif’s mother Jen Kious said.
University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington is ranked within the top 100 liberal arts colleges in the entire United States. There is an 11:1 teacher-student ratio. For comparison, the University of Utah’s and BYU’s ratios are 19:1 and 22:1, respectively.
“The sky is the limit for Leif. I am so excited to see what he chooses and how he explores all his passions,” Jen said. “I’m as curious as everyone else of where he’s going to end up.”
Kious has lined up his future in a great way and he has set himself up to be successful in anything he might want in the future. It all comes from a deep motivation to be his best at all that he does.
“He strives for excellence in everything that he does. Whether its academics, speech and debate, theater, relationships, or cooking or anything,” Jen said. “He is just very hardworking and dedicated.”
This is why most aren’t surprised at how far he’s come. This Sterling Scholar rounds out everything that he stood for at his time as a Ram.
“I think it’s the perfect capstone to everything that I’ve done in high school,” Leif said. “Making it this far as a Sterling Scholar feels great because it shows me that I really did become a part of that world.”
