Cedar Park Christian’s Steeb is riding high at Little Bit

Wesley Steeb has been a horse girl since she was 2 years old. She loves riding and grooming equines, and especially helping physically and developmentally disabled kids and adults improve their lives as a volunteer captain at Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center in Woodinville.

Away from the stables, she’s a stellar student and service-event coordinator at Cedar Park Christian. She’s been accepted as a President’s Scholar to Hillsdale College in Michigan and earned the Comcast Leadership Achievement Scholarship. There’s clearly no horsing around on the academic front for Steeb, who graduated last Saturday from the Bothell school.

Steeb was homeschooled until entering ninth grade at Cedar Park. Everything changed when she walked through the school doors.

“It’s been very rewarding. I wanted a chance to experience traditional classroom learning,” said Steeb of attending Cedar Park. “You get a wider variety of classes and instructors, and that gets you prepared for a smooth transition into college.

“Cedar Park gives me the chance to grow and do whatever I want,” added Steeb, who plans to major in bio chemistry with pre-med concentration at Hillsdale; the honors student ranked in the top 25 of 1,500 applicants to the school.

She carried a 3.9 overall grade-point average — 4.0 the last two years — and excelled in classes like calculus, physics, anatomy and physiology.

“Give me more to learn,” she said with a laugh. “If you want to learn, they’re going to teach you. If you want, you can discover more, deepen your understanding.”

On the leadership front, Steeb was especially proud of a trip she organized to the Aegis assisted-living center in Bothell. About 15 students made and handed out Valentine’s Day cards to a group of Aegis residents and spent some time interacting with the seniors.

Volunteering at Little Bit the last nine years has directly related to her success at Cedar Park, Steeb said. She started training as a captain at age 9, even though the minimum age for the position is 14. The longtime rider was able to handle the horses well and impressed the staff, so she was on board.

“Little Bit has really shown me the joy you can get from helping other people. I enjoy seeing them being able to get out of a wheelchair, get out in the great outdoors and ride a horse — it’s empowering for them,” she said of the clients. “(At school) I really have found my place in the servant leader roles. You give everything without expecting anything in return. You can be blessed out of that.”