Maia Sparkman, seen during her high school track days, sets off for Zambia in April to join the Peace Corps. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Maia Sparkman is one of the great ones.
She was a phenomenal athlete, both at South Whidbey High School and then at Seattle University.
As a Falcon, she was a standout on the soccer pitch and a state meet medal-winning supernova in track and field, the sport she continued to pursue in college.
Now, during her prep days, I was much more combative with those who lived on the South end of the Island.
There was a moment, though, after finally listening to people wiser than myself, that I started reaching out to Falcon Nation with an olive branch, instead of swinging my computer keyboard wildly to and fro.
During that time, I wrote several feature stories on South Whidbey athletes, and Maia, showing her grace, agreed to be the first Falcon I wrote about.
In her answers to my questions, she showed herself to be highly-intelligent, very-focused, and a young woman with immense potential.
Maia didn’t have to talk to me, but she did, and I greatly appreciated it, both then and now.
Thursday night, one of my favorite former Coupeville athletes, Haley Sherman, posted a link to a GoFundMe for Maia, and, being curious, I popped over to check it out.
Once there, I discovered Ms. Sparkman has joined the Peace Corps and is off to Zambia in April to kick off a two-year adventure.
I also found that, after working two jobs after college to build up savings, she unfortunately fell prey to a scam which gutted those savings.
Her family and friends have come together to try and help Maia get back on her feet financially, and I hope the mission blossoms.
This young woman is one of the best and brightest Whidbey Island has produced during my time running Coupeville Sports, and how can you not want her to succeed when her goal in life is simply to help others?
So, take a moment, pop over to the link below to get more facts, and, if you can, hopefully help Maia, with financial aid, positive messages, or both.
Coupeville Sports 