Washoe Country School District
Change Font Size
Shane Davis's Profile
Spanish Springs Student Keeps Positive Outlook for Future
Student: Shane Davis
School: Spanish Springs High School
Eighteen-year-old Shane Davis now has the chance to watch the fruit of his labors a year after drafting a bill with other high school students in Nevada.
In the 2009-10 school year, Shane was selected by Nevada State Sen. Maurice Washington to represent him in the Nevada Youth Legislature, a group of 21 teens who evaluate and comment on issues affecting students in the state. Shane and other teens drafted a bill to create a state lottery from which the funds would benefit education in Nevada.
“That was a really fun experience for me,” said Shane, a Spanish Springs High School student. “It was cool to get a firsthand experience with government. It’s hard in class sometimes to figure out how a bill’s written and all, but you get to go there (to Carson City) and see it and it’s like, ‘Okay, now I’m the House.’ It makes it a lot more exciting.”
Shane will graduate from Spanish Springs in June with a wide array of activities to put on his resume for the future.
In addition to his government experience, he is also his school’s Junior Reserved Officer Training Course (JROTC) battalion executive officer. He demonstrated his acting talents as the sultan in the school’s musical “Aladdin” this spring. Furthermore, he was president of Spanish Springs’ Future Business Leaders of America club and a member of the Academic Olympics and Science Olympiad teams.
“High school’s been exciting,” Shane said. “It’s been a great learning experience. I look forward to college. It’ll be a chance to grow a lot of my skills and gain new abilities and be able to highlight the areas I excel in and decide what I want to do in the future.”
The Advanced Placement student has done well for himself in all aspects in his education, even while working through a physical challenge. Shane is legally blind, with 20/200 vision. He also has albinism, a recessive trait in his family in which he lacks pigment in his hair. He hasn’t let it interfere with his studies, but he said it’s the reason he won’t be able to pursue a career in the military despite his accomplishments in JROTC.
“It hasn’t been too bad,” he said. “I always have to sit in front of the class so I can read the board. I have to take my AP tests with giant text.”
Shane’s counselor, Angie Pilkington, said from what she’s seen of the senior in the one year he’s been her student, he has an exceptional and rare maturity among most teens.
“Having that low vision is a non-issue for him and I think that’s what impresses me so much about Shane,” Pilkington said. “He’s academically bright. He appears not to have any limitations. He is intelligent and he has maximized it. He’s done all these amazing things in JROTC and he’s an all-around phenomenal kid.”
Last week, Shane received the Washoe Education Association’s 2011 Outstanding Graduate award after being nominated and chosen by Spanish Springs’ teachers, counselors and administration. He was selected for setting a good example for other students by not using his disability as an excuse for any of his work or activities in life.
Shane said he’ll continue his studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he wants to study business.
“I have some goals and aspirations of success, being financially sound and a loving family,” he said.
The best piece of advice he offers is encouraging others to be as active in high school as he was.
“Try new things and get involved throughout high school in any and every area because you don’t know what you’re going to like,” he said.
