WA multi-sport standout from Tri-Cities and ‘all-round positive kid’ earns scholarship
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Aliyah Malone balances varsity sports, part-time work, and community service.
- Malone ranks among top River View High students, earning a Bushnell scholarship.
- Track, volleyball and teacher mentorship drive Malone’s school and service focus.
Aliyah Malone is all about the grit and grind.
It’s how she’s been able to stave off “senioritis” and the realization that her final days at River View High School are coming to a close. She’s just too busy with school, work, varsity athletics, weight lifting, crafts and community service.
“I’m still trying to go to all my classes. I’m still doing all my homework on time. I’m still showing up to school,” she said.
Malone was all smiles on a recent school day, her fingernails painted with the school colors as she counts down to commencement.
River View’s graduation is 7 p.m. Friday, June 6 at the high school in Finley. Nearly 70 will receive their diplomas.
Principal Chris Davis characterized Malone as a hard worker who is an “all-around positive kid.”
“She’s right up top of her class and deserves every bit of it,” he told the Herald. “I just think we see her going all the time. Whether it’s club volleyball, in-school sports, out-of-school stuff, commitments with her family... She’s always busy and always going.”
The standout, multi-sport athlete will attend Bushnell University this fall on scholarship. She’s considering studies in a medical field.
Finley grandparents
While Malone, 17, doesn’t live in Finley, she has deep ties to the rural community east of Kennewick.
Since kindergarten, her parents have driven her there to attended classes, and then she catches the bus to her nearby grandparents home after school.
“When I grew up, we just never switched,” she explained. Her mom now works at the middle school, and her dad works for the U.S. Postal Service.
At a young age, Malone got involved with tap, jazz, ballet, hip hop dancing. But her first love was volleyball, which she started competing in in seventh grade.
She’s played on the varsity team since her freshman year, and has led the Panthers to two state appearances. She credits her former head coach, Allyson Stanley, for inspiring her and pushing the team to its limits.
“When I thought I couldn’t do something, she’d push me harder until I realized that I could do it,” she said.
Malone has also regularly stood atop the 2B state track and field podium.
She’s top ranked in the 4x100-meter relay, 100-meter hurdles and high jump. Last year, she took home second in hurdles and third in the high jump.
Similarly, Malone says, she’s been pushed by head coaches Ron Curbow and Carrie Hoburg, who made sure their athletes were always rested and primed.
WIAA’s 1B, 2B and 1A state championship track and field meet is this week on Thursday, May 29, through Saturday, May 31.
In the classroom, Malone says all her teachers inspired her so much that she wrote and distributed a “thank you” letter to the entire school’s staff.
“I’ve had a close bond with all my teachers since freshman year. Because it’s a small school, they’ll know if you’re not in class or anything. I like building that connection with my teachers,” she said.
Malone’s biggest hurdle has been keeping her grades high. Competing in athletics has been a big motivator, but she’s had to balance all that with a part-time job.
The past year she’s worked as a server at Riverwalk Estates in Kennewick. She even helped them open the new facility.
“I just love older people and I thought it would be fun to work at a retirement home,” she said.
She also volunteers her time to help her grandparent’s 4H club sew blankets and hats for the homeless, and she’s helped make toiletry bags for the teen center.
Malone says the Class of 2025 is a “bit disconnected.” Not only did COVID disrupt things, but students have been siloed through their sports, clubs and different activities.
But she says the class has really come together and bonded around their shared education.
