Stillwater Christian senior a master of the comeback

[The Inter Lake is spotlighting standout graduates of the Class of 2020.]

Stillwater Christian School senior Hannah Amick can often be caught ripping trails on her mountain bike and makes it a point to show girls can ride with the best of them.

But her competitive nature gives her the desire to compete most with the person she was yesterday rather than any other biker on the mountain — or any person in a classroom for that matter. She sets her own high standards and follows through with what she starts.

Her closest friends describe her as ambitious and focused; the accuracy of those words is obvious as she graduates this year with both her high school diploma and an Associate of Science degree from Flathead Valley Community College.

Throughout Amick’s high school career — three years at Whitefish Christian Academy and one year with Stillwater Christian — she put in countless hours doing school work as she also progressed through dual enrollment with FVCC. She knows attaining the degree while simultaneously graduating from high school will set her up for success, and stated it is the accomplishment she is most proud of thus far in her life.

“There were a lot of technical things that I had to work out,” Amick explained. “Like driving down from Whitefish every single day when I had first gotten my license, staying up late and also trying to talk to professors even when I was a scared, little [high school] sophomore. All of those things kind of combined, culminating into the associate’s degree.”

Amick always had a busy schedule and it was challenging finding time for extracurricular activities while taking so many classes. Still, she participated in speech and debate, mock trial and National Honor Society all while maintaining straight As.

Amick volunteered at the Shepherd’s Hand Free Clinic in Whitefish all four years and values it as an enlightening experience. With a neurologist mother and an anesthesiologist father, she said it was unique for her to get some perspective within the medical field as well.

“That was a super cool opportunity to just interact with the community,” Amick said. “My parents are both in the medical field so it was interesting to see sort of behind the scenes.”

In addition, Amick loves being physically active and enjoying time outdoors. She plays lacrosse on a local club team, earned her black belt in karate, practices krav maga, hikes on local trails and — of course — adores mountain biking.

MOUNTAIN BIKING is a huge passion for Amick, who competes all summer long and also participated in the National Interscholastic Cycling Association races last fall.

“I just love being outdoors which is why I think I was really drawn to mountain biking specifically, and also hiking,” Amick said. “That’s probably the main thing is just getting a chance to be outdoors, and I bike a lot with my family, too, which is a really nice way to spend time with them.”

Although she loves it now, her path to competitive mountain biking was not that simple. When she was in third grade Amick’s father first took her biking on Big Mountain and she ended up falling off a bridge. Shaken by that accident, it took her five years before she would get on a bike again.

Now she looks back on it as a major accomplishment and learning opportunity; her courage to get back on a bike changed her life and taught an important lesson even at a young age. Now she uses that experience to inspire other girls, especially her little sister, to mountain bike and not be intimidated by the sport that was traditionally dominated by the boys.

“There weren’t really many female mountain bikers [when I started], so it was just usually me and my dad on the mountain,” Amick said. “And it’s just been cool over the years to see, now there’s more female mountain bikers and I’ve gotten to take my sister mountain biking, so it’s just been neat to see that passed along.”

IT TURNED out overcoming that fear of falling off again would not be the only hardship she faced as a young woman. Amick has an incompetent upper esophageal sphincter, which causes extreme acid reflux and she has had to alter her lifestyle often to work around it.

The summer before her senior year she was attending seminars at both the U.S. Naval Academy, which had been her top college choice for years, and the Air Force Academy. After attending those seminars she was in top physical shape and made a hard choice to get surgery on her esophagus, which would hopefully improve her condition. The surgery was successful and her acid reflux is significantly more manageable now, but she could not eat solid food for a good portion of her three-month recovery. She was unable to do any cardiovascular or strength training, causing her muscles to become weak.

Going from the best physical fitness level of her life to the inability to even take a quick hike was upsetting. While struggling with this physical and mental battle, she also got word from the Naval Academy that she was medically disqualified from their program. Amick was heartbroken; that had been her absolute dream.

She felt dejected, but forced herself to pick up those pieces and create a new plan.

“It was pretty tricky [to move on] at first because I had visited the Naval Academy three times. I had gone freshman year and fell in love, and I made a bunch of connections and already started the application process …” Amick said. “But I realized that you can’t base your identity around goals like that, and I just had to look forward to what I could do with what I had.”

AND THAT is what she did. Amick marched on with classes at FVCC and she got her physical condition back in shape for bike races in the fall. She even played on the varsity basketball team, despite never playing basketball before, for a fun way to regain her physical strength.

Amick shifted gears and altered her goals — she now plans to attend the University of Utah in the fall as a first-year junior. The soon-to-be Ute received a major scholarship from the school to join its honors program and she plans on potentially pursuing economics before continuing on to law school.

She is also looking forward to experiencing city life while remaining close to outdoor adventures in Salt Lake City.

“My dad’s been taking me biking down there since before I can remember, so I thought it was kind of a cool way to come full circle,” Amick said while explaining that her father is also a Utah alumnus.

Amick has always been inspired by her parents and their influence helps her to overcome the major obstacles she faces in life.

“I think they’ve both set the bar very high for me, but also really helped me achieve my goals,” Amick said. “My mom in particular, she was the first female neurologist in Montana … so she’s just always encouraged me to open doors for myself that may not be open, and find a place for myself wherever I want to be.”

Amick’s future may not be unfolding exactly the way she imagined it freshman year, but her ability to push through life’s alterations is helping her carve out a profound future.

Reporter Whitney England may be reached at 758-4419 or wengland@dailyinterlake.com.