Jacob Dimond / jake@yelmonline.com
Yelm High School’s advanced sports medicine team was able to cap off a successful showing in Pasadena, California, at the American Academic Competition Institute’s (AACI) Regional competition on Saturday, March 14, when senior Sofie Miera was named the AACI High School Sports Medicine Student of the Year.
During an interview with the Nisqually Valley News on Wednesday, March 18, Miera said that she was extremely grateful for the honor. With two years of preparation entering Pasadena, California, for the AACI High School Sports Medicine Student of the Year competition, she felt an added amount of pressure to succeed in the event.
According to AACI, each applicant had to write a personal essay on the topic of, “In what ways have your experiences as a high school athletic training student provided you with opportunities for personal growth?”
Then, each applicant had to submit one summary of an article from a scientific journal relevant to athletic training or sports medicine. Additionally, each entry had to submit one photo of two separate taping procedures completed, along with information about why each procedure was chosen.
Once the top three finalists were picked — which occurred on Feb. 23, 2026 — they were asked to complete a written exam and a practical exam, along with an eight to 12 minute presentation in front of a panel of judges. The topic had to be related to any sports medicine or athletic training topic.
Finally, once everything was all said and done, the finalist with the highest accumulated points was selected as the winner.
According to Miera, her 12-minute presentation was based on the different superstitions that athletes possess within the world of athletics. She told the Nisqually Valley News that she was proud of how her presentation was executed.
“It was probably the best presentation I’ve ever done. It went really well. There were over 700 people there and it went great,” she said. “There was an interview at the end and I had a lot of fun with it. I was feeling really good about myself and had to wait an hour to learn the results. I did end up placing first in the National Athletic Training Student of the Year. I’ve been working for two years for this. I’m so happy.”
Her classmate, Cali Stein, told the Nisqually Valley News that she could not be more proud of her friend, Miera. Stein also attended the AACI Regional competition in Pasadena, California, on Saturday, March 14.
“She did an amazing job in California in every single thing she did,” Stein said. “She excels in everything.”
Their instructor, Gary Clinton, spoke very highly of Miera’s achievement. He said it took a vast amount of work to become a finalist, but that he was confident in his student’s ability to secure the accolade.
“Sofie is a rockstar. That’s what I’ve said before. She had pressure on her over these last two years, knowing that she was going to be our student in that competition and that she needed to have an identified topic and have preparations to be able to win that category,” Clinton said. “It’s very rare to have students even get selected in the top three. To have, each four years we’ve gone down, and then have that student win it — that just doesn’t happen.”
Clinton added that the program at YHS is more than just sports medicine, but rather an all-encompassing health-science program where students have lots of opportunities and abilities to excel and achieve in a variety of settings. He noted the students who participate in these classes aren’t just book smart or smart within one setting. Clinton said that Miera exemplifies a student “who can excel in many different ways.”
“There was a teacher I talked to from another school that had a ton of kids there, great person, she said in her 12-years of teaching that she only had four students make it in the top three,” Clinton said. “Every year Yelm has been there, we’ve had a person make it in the top three and now one wins it.”
