Yelm High School student Rio Slevin recently received an accolade that encapsulates all the hard work they have put into the sports medicine program at the school.
During the California Regional High School Sports Medicine Competition in Northridge, California, Yelm’s first appearance since 2019, Slevin was named the Athletic Training Student of the Year in front of competitors, peers and teammates at the event on March 16,
Gary Clinton, YHS sports medicine instructor and teacher, praised Slevin, who also led the anatomage team at the competition.
“For me, subjectively in my 20 years, Rio is probably the most well-rounded, talented, academically motivated and driven student that I’ve ever had. I feel incredibly fortunate to be part of that journey that they’ve been on for four years,” Clinton said. “I know Rio’s family well, and just the passion they have for going into the medical field is awesome. There’s so many things that’ve been driven by their goals in life to be in the health care field and be able to serve others. It’s great that she’s had this opportunity in our program.”
Slevin said it felt extremely rewarding to receive the honors considering how much work the YHS sports medicine team put in prior to departing to California.
“It was awesome, amazing. I have no other way to describe it,” Slevin said after returning to Washington. “It was an amazing feeling like all my effort had paid off, knowing this is something I care so deeply about, and I’m just happy that came across, and that they could tell how much I care about this program. I felt relieved that the competition was over because it was really stressful.”
Slevin said the process was a lot of work and, prior to the competition, included a five-page essay about their experience as an athletic training student, a four-page paper about use of testosterone as an athletic steroid and another four-page summary about one of the academic articles they used as a basis for her research paper. They said all the hard work was well worth it, however.
Slevin also wrote a paper about ankle and elbow hyperextension tapings, along with performing the procedure.
“I submitted all of that, and they let me know a couple weeks later that I qualified in the top three [for athletic training student of the year],” Slevin said. “Based on that, I had to create a slideshow and present it in front of almost everybody — nearly 300 people. It was a 10-minute presentation, and I had to go up and give that in front of everybody.”
Slevin is the third Tornado in program history to earn Athletic Training Student of the Year honors. They join YHS alumni Abbie Dorhauer and Bekah Hume as award winners.
“Rio carries on a great tradition of excellence in our students. We went to the competition three different times, and each time we’ve won that aspect of the competition. They carried on an expectation of excellence,” Clinton said. “(The award) goes to an incredibly well-rounded student, in all capacities, between the ability to write and express their passion towards sports medicine and what it’s meant in their life, along with being able to critically think about academic resources and summarize those resources. For Rio, it was something they were really passionate about with understanding and educating.”
Slevin said the honor, and the YHS sports medicine team’s overall performance at the competition in California, makes them feel really proud of Yelm.
“We have put so much into this competition, and knowing that everybody here cares so much about how we did. We tried our best,” Slevin said. “We put our all into this. I feel so proud that I am a part of a team that has put so much effort into this and that the effort paid off by all of us doing so great.”
