Submitted by the San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau.

The San Juan Islands Visitors Bureau is pleased to announce the recipient of its eighth Annual Hospitality/Business/Communications Scholarship, awarded to a Class of 2025 graduate from Friday Harbor High School.

Congratulations to Nylah Pieples, who will be starting the business program at Boise State University in the fall. The Visitors Bureau Committee selected her from an impressive group of applicants.

Pieples plans to major in business because she’s passionate about interacting with people, understanding their needs and finding innovative solutions to problems. She also enjoys the challenge of creating positive experiences for people while driving business success and sees business as a way to make a meaningful impact on communities and organizations. Her dream career is to become the CEO of a major company or to own a small business.

Although the Visitors Bureau makes a maximum of three scholarships available, one each to a student from the Orcas Island, Lopez Island and San Juan Island public high schools, we did not receive qualifying applications from Lopez or Orcas Island students this year.

The Visitors Bureau’s intention in awarding the scholarships is to recognize and thank students for working in our islands’ hospitality industry, especially during the summer, helping to make fun and memorable experiences for our visitors from around the world, and who plan to pursue studies in sustainable tourism/hospitality, business or communications.

We wish Nylah and the rest of the Class of 2025 the best of luck in their future endeavors, wherever their paths may lead.