Kendall Bean

Some high school students excel in the arts – others seem to shine in science and math. Hillcrest High School senior is outstanding in both, and that’s part of why he was named as the United Dairymen of Idaho Distinguished Student Award winner.

Kendall has one big regret about his high school experience – that he waited until his junior year to join the Ballroom dance team.

“Ballroom, of all my extracurricular activities, I’d definitely say is my favorite,” Kendall said. “It’s a great team. I love the coach. Everyone just has such a unique personality, but we tend to blend together pretty well. It’s really amazing. And then, of course, I love being able to go to high school dances and know how to dance, rather than just randomly flailing my limbs.”

When it comes to extracurricular activities, Kendall has one more passion besides dance – swimming. He’s a life guard, coach, teacher and he’s been a member of a swim team for eight years. There’s also no lack of passion on Kendall’s part when it comes to academics.

“I just like to learn for the sake of learning and I think that’s my biggest asset – I think that’s why I’m able to learn so well because I just love to do it,” Kendall said.

Some students have trouble deciding what they want to do in life for a career, but not Kendall. He knows exactly what he wants to do.

“Eventually I do hope to become a nuclear physicist and own and operate my own high end sciences lab,” Kendall said. “I really think that nuclear energy has huge potential for giving the whole world electricity so cheap you won’t even be able to meter it.”