East Helena student wins MHSA leadership award from Western Native Voice

Rori Schoenfeld of East Helena High School has been singled out across Montana for a kind of leadership that reaches beyond one classroom, one season or one title. Schoenfeld received the Spring 2026 MHSA Outstanding Leadership Performance Award from Western Native Voice, recognition that reflects her role as a National Honor Society member, valedictorian, three-sport athlete, volunteer and member of the MHSA Advisory Council.

The Montana High School Association says the award honors students, teams and groups that show exceptional leadership within their communities. Schoenfeld’s record fit that standard in several directions at once: academic excellence as valedictorian, steady commitment as a volunteer, competitive drive as a three-sport athlete and a voice in student issues through the advisory council. Taken together, those roles show leadership that is practiced daily, not just when trophies are handed out.

For East Helena High School, the recognition offers a clear example of how student leadership can be built across different parts of school life. Schoenfeld’s path shows that schools do not have to choose between academics, athletics and service. When students are encouraged to take on all three, they can develop the discipline, confidence and community connection that carry into college, careers and civic life in Lewis and Clark County.

Western Native Voice, which presented the award, says its work centers on nurturing and empowering new Native leaders through community organizing, education, leadership and advocacy. Founded in 2011, the organization launched Expanding Horizons in September 2022 to strengthen youth development and leadership across Native communities. That broader pipeline matters because the award is not just about one student in East Helena. It is part of a larger effort to identify young people already contributing to their schools and communities and to help them grow into public leaders.

That approach has had policy consequences as well. Western Native Voice has pointed to the 2017 passage of Senate Bill 319 as an example of Native youth leadership helping protect students’ right to wear traditional tribal regalia and objects of cultural significance at public events, including graduations. The group said about 200 Native high school students were expected at its 2026 Youth Leadership Conference in Billings from March 15 to 17, another sign of how leadership training is being built well before students reach adulthood.

For East Helena and the rest of Lewis and Clark County, Schoenfeld’s award is a reminder that leadership often starts in familiar places: the classroom, the playing field, the volunteer shift and the meetings where students learn to speak for themselves and for others.