Kiara Burdge
Kiara Burdge is popular. Very popular.
The Coupeville High School senior, cheer captain, Homecoming Queen and all-around force of nature was the single most searched person on my blog in 2016.
And it wasn’t even close.
When you top Makana Stone and Hunter Smith, combined, people apparently are very, very interested in you.
And why not?
Kiara, who celebrates her birthday today, her final one as a high school student/athlete, has been one of the most impressive young women I have covered in my time pounding the keyboard here at Coupeville Sports.
Like her older sister, Kylie, she was seemingly born to be a cheerleader.
School spirit flows from her, Kiara can seemingly control an overflowing crowd with a single arch of an eyebrow, and she has every attribute you would want to see in a captain.
She leads by example, but she is also quick to reach out to her fellow cheerleaders, offering a quiet word or a smile of encouragement.
Away from the cheer world, Miss Burdge has always been one of the friendliest people in Wolf Nation, a kind, warm young woman who excels in the classroom and the real world.
Kiara comes from a large family — she has three siblings and parents Aaron and Trina — and she seems utterly devoted to each and every one of her relatives.
The Burdges are deeply committed to their Mormon faith, something they all reflect in their daily lives, and part of my respect for Kiara is seeing, from a distance, how she lives in her faith.
Everything I have seen, everything I have heard, over the past four years, reflects well on her, and I say, with a great deal of confidence, that she is truly one of the classiest athletes we have ever had in Coupeville.
She’s a few months away from graduation, so this is the final birthday article I’ll be writing for her.
Before she goes I just want to take a moment to wish her the best, today and every day.
Your future is as bright as it could be, Kiara, and I have no doubt whatsoever you will continue to impress all around you in the years to come.
I hope that you know, on the good days and the bad, that you are blessed, being part of a large, loving family — at home, at school and in your church.
That you have given so much of yourself, to your school, your team and your community, is admirable.
Thank you for being you, from all of us.
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