Class of 2025: Onward and upward for Whitefish senior Kiva Stolte

Whitefish born and raised senior Kiva Stolte is a down-to-earth student eager to graduate with the Whitefish High School class of 2025.  

In school, he enjoyed welding and cooking, and wood shop with teacher Ryan Boyle.  

“I like hands-on stuff,” he said. 

Meanwhile, required coursework like college career readiness and personal finance were just something to get through, although he’s intuitive about both.  

The possibility of pursuing flight school for a pilot’s license is something that came about this year when he was connected to an apprenticeship at the airport through an educational internship class taught by Kari Baxter. 

The class, new at Whitefish High School this year, aims to pair students with hands-on experiences in a variety of careers and trades, with students in everything from law to forensics, real estate, hospitality and more.  

Stolte, curious about aviation, asked Baxter if there was an opportunity.  

“And she said she was getting one lined up,” he said.  

Now, he’s living up to the class's expectations for work-based learning as the airport hired him and he plans to keep working there after graduation.  

He said he enjoys flying because, quite simply, it is “straight. It’s nice.” 

Over the valley, “the bird’s eye view is cool,” he said. 

It’s a different experience from in school, wherein he flew mostly under the radar. 

Whitefish High School staff described him as dedicated, kind, family-oriented and wicked smart, although he doesn’t care much about grades. Stolte always took the necessary steps to take him onward and upward while navigating his own challenges to graduate high school. 

Senior year has been more enjoyable, thanks to the flexibility, he said.  

He’s well known in the front office, working as an office assistant, for being quite helpful and a decent trivia competitor.  

“It’s not homework, it’s helping people,” he said of the office assistant position. “I’d rather do that than an elective,” he said. 

Throughout high school, he said his biggest supporter has been his dad Caleb, especially after losing his mother Traci to cancer in 2020. 

“It was pretty hard the first year, but it got easier after the second year,” he said. “It’s more normal knowing that it’s just my dad and my siblings.”

Stolte has two older siblings, Luna and Azure, and lots of furry family members. They have three dogs, Lexi, Mercedes and PK, two cats, and customer’s dogs are around too, as his dad runs Stolte’s Pet Stop. 

He and his dad enjoy hiking, floating the river, expeditions in Glacier, as well as some drone photography.

He hasn’t skied much in the last couple of years, although he enjoys it. In the summer, his family occasionally hops on a friend’s boat for some wakeboarding. 

After graduation, though, he said there is one main thing to look forward to: freedom.