Steven Dyer, Congratulations!

Over the last few years, I've hired a remarkable young man, Steven Dyer, to help around my yard and home on several occasions. He had my son became friends through the sport of wrestling and I've followed Steven's career for years.

He's pretty busy with school, sports and church activities, but he also needed to make money to help subsidize the high cost of participating in sports. Athletes in Southeast Alaska have to do a great deal of fundraising because every football game, wrestling match, track meet and such requires travel by boat or plane. A season on the team can cost almost $3,000 per wrestler. As the oldest of five children who are also involved in activities, it was up to Steven to raise his own money.

Steven also raised additional money to attend wrestling camps outside of Alaska. While he did get some scholarships from the Juneau Tornado Wrestling club, each camp cost thousands of dollars.

It has been nice having Steven around to do the heavy labor and to be honest, I enjoyed his company. We've probably talked about everything under the sun, from religion, politics, teachers and even girls. Especially after my son left for college, I enjoyed having someone to talk to. We didn't always agree, and sometimes we would debate a little too much, but I'd like to think I got to know him a little bit.

At the beginning of the season, Steven was wrestling at 160 pounds. His family and I were concerned when he announced he wanted to drop a weight class. To me, he just didn't seem like there was another 8 pounds he could lose off his tall, slight frame but he did it. I was worried about him, but anybody who's ever tried to argue with a teenager knows how far I got with any protests.

It has been his dream to win the state championship for his weight class - 152. Only 10 other wrestlers in Juneau have captured the state title since they started having state championships in 1972. Our athletes just don't get as much mat time against opponents outside our region, and only having a dozen or less meets in a year really makes it challenging.

This past weekend, Steven became the 11^th Juneau-Douglas High School wrestler to win a state championship.

I am as proud of him as I would be if he were one of my own.

Steven is a good kid. He has a big heart, and a caring spirit. He's not super-intellectual but much smarter than he gives himself credit for. His strong work ethic is going to take him anywhere he wants to go in this life.

Congratulations, Steven Dyer!