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RIDGECREST, La. — Kathryn Porter, who also goes by Ryn, said she is honored to have been named the district 2025 Student of the Year in eighth grade for Concordia Parish. 

“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity I’ve been given to be Student of the Year,” Porter said. In conjunction with the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE), the Louisiana Department of Education recognizes outstanding fifth, eighth, and 12th-grade students who have demonstrated excellence in leadership, academic performance, achievements, citizenship, and service to the school and community through the Students of the Year program. The senior and fifth-grade students honored are Ragde Torres at CPA and Aubrey Harrell at Monterey High School.

To be named a District Student of the Year, Porter first and to be named a Student of the Year in the eighth-grade by her school. She then had to write an autobiographical essay and be interviewed by a panel of administrators for a shot at being a Student of the Year for the entire school district, she said. 

The daughter of Stephanie and Chris Porter, Ryn said she has had a lot of influential people in her life starting with her parents and their friends who are good at motivational speaking.

“I was nervous but I had people around me who helped, including my parents and my dad’s business partner Michael Stricklin.”

Porter said Stricklin was among the speakers at a 10X Growth Conference with well-known author and entrepreneur Grant Cardone, whose business conference is one of the largest annual business conferences in the world. Stricklin has presented to over 10,000 people at the conference, she said, adding, “I don’t think I could ever do that.” But he helped her prepare for her interview with a panel of school district judges.  

For her essay, Porter chose to write about her travels and the opportunities her family has given her to see new places, she said.

Porter enjoys being outdoors, hunting, fishing, and watching football. She also enjoys reading, especially fiction stories about dystopian societies. But her favorite hobby is traveling. Her family has taken her on adventures to Zion National Park; Niagara Falls; Branson, Missouri; Colorado; Big Sky, Montana; and South Dakota to see the Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse memorials.

“I like being in other places besides here, seeing how other places are,” Porter said. 

Each Concordia Parish School District Student of the Year will have the opportunity to travel to New York City on an all-expenses-paid trip along with 20 other students in the parish who do well in school. Porter said she looks forward to seeing the city for the first time and is particularly excited to visit Ellis Island and the 9/11 memorial.

Porter is involved in the 4-H club and next year plans to join her school’s Beta Club and the Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) club.

After high school, Porter said she sees herself going to college and studying to be an architect before joining her family’s business in Zachary. 

“I love looking at sculptures of different houses,” Porter said. “My mother has an interior design career and I like seeing how she can just change a room completely. I want to be able to make a room for somebody to come in and design.”