Top 10 Spotlight: Faith, Family Come First for Kendall House

by Ronnie Zamora/LFCISD

As the daughter of a pastor whose family lives next to their place of worship, Kendall House has always known family and faith come first.

The daughter of Kendra and Dale House, pastor of Los Fresnos Church of Christ, Kendall is one of the top 10 students in the Los Fresnos High School Class of 2016.

“My church is an extension of my family, Kendall said. “They have supported me through everything, which is something I am thankful for. Dad never put pressure on any of his three children to become involved in church activities.”

Kendall decided on her own to be active in the church, and led youth group activities several years.

“My dad always made a point that my faith was something that I could come to on my own. He’s always left it as my choice. That always made my faith much stronger since it was my decision and not something I did just because my parents were doing it.”

Last summer, Kendall and other youths went on a mission trip to an Indian reservation near Crown Point, N.M., a camp that was different from others she attended.

“At church camp, it would be focused on ourselves and our faith. This was so different because it wasn’t focused on us, but helping the community. We were building things for people who didn’t have anything. It was a different form of worship.”

After family and worship, swimming was also a big focus. Kendall has been a member of the LFHS girls’ swim team that has won the last four district championships.

Kendall was a member of Lady Falcons team that has won the District 32-6A championship for the last four years.

“I like the hard work it took to be a good swimmer, and I like to be challenged. Swimming was really scary for me at first.”

Kendall was a member of the Lady Falcons’ 200 free relay team that won district, regionals and competed in the UIL state swim meet. She also was part of the 400 free relay, and swim in the 100 freestyle and 100 breaststroke individual events.

“It was always a goal to make it to state and compete with the best swimmers in the state,” Kendall said.

She managed to put early swimming and late afternoon swim classes around her a strict studying schedule to maintain high academic standards.

“Learning to balance that was a real struggle at first, but I worked hard and it got me to where I am today.”

She is not the first in her family to achieve academic success. Big brother Dalton House, a member of the LFHS Class of 2014, was ranked sixth in his class, the same ranking as Kendall.

“We’re completely different when it comes to academic and study ethic,” Kendall said. “I always pushed myself to beat him or get to where he was. Meeting his standards were pretty good. I had to work harder than he did because he was naturally smart.

Dalton has finished his sophomore year at The University of North Texas in Denton, and Kendall will follow him to UNT. Their maternal grandparents live in Denton.

“Since my grandparents and brother are in Denton, that should be make the transition easier for me. That was a big part of my decision to attend UNT.”

Kendall has received the Terry Foundation scholarship, which will cover all of her her undergraduate degree expenses, as long as she maintains GPA standards.

She hopes to major in speech pathology, an area that interested when she met a young boy who had difficulty speaking.

“There was a child with a speech impediment who visited our church. This little boy would say something, but his brother would have to translate. That’s just a hard way to live. He’s not speaking a different language, but he had trouble forming the same words that we use.

“I realized that was something I wanted to do. I wanted to give people like him a voice. I wanted to see people like him speak for themselves and not have people speak for them.”

Kendall’s advice to younger students who are seeking academic success: “Find something that you love to do, and learn as much as you can about it. If you believe in that you really like a subject you’ll like it and learn it quickly. Get involved with programs that you like, and find a way to make it fun. Have a reason to look forward to school and keep going.”