Above: Hudson Artz and Briana Joseph have been selected as Fairmont High School’s Triple A winners. The senior students excel in academics, arts and athletics.

FAIRMONT– This year’s Triple A winners at Fairmont High School have been named. Each year, one female and one male student is selected from the senior class and recognized for excelling in Arts, Athletics and Academics. This year they are Briana Joseph and Hudson Artz.

Joseph and Artz have had different interests when it comes to classes, sports and other extracurriculars. But they’ve both been at the top of their class, which is made up of about 117 students.

Joseph, daughter of Abraham and Simmi, joins her brother, Tony, who was named the school’s Triple A winner in 2017. She has been a consistent band student since 5th grade. She’s a percussionist and has been in marching band, pep band, concert band and jazz band. She’s also been selected into honor band and has done well at solo ensembles.

“I’ve been in and out of choir, but I don’t have enough time in my schedule to take it,” Joseph explained.

She’s also played in the pit orchestra during the school’s fall musical all throughout high school.

While Artz, son of Kelly and Sheri, has enjoyed singing, he was only in choir his freshman year. However, this school year he did something new and tried out for the fall musical.

“I always thought I would do it and last year with Covid there wasn’t even a musical,” Artz explained.

He said he tried to get some friends to try out with him but no one did, so he went for it by himself and ended up nailing the part of Beast in “Beauty and the Beast.”

“I said I would do whatever role but I wasn’t expecting much,” Artz admitted.

He said he wishes he had gone out for the musical in previous years, too, but that he plans to go out for the spring play.

When it comes to athletics, both Joseph and Artz have had successful careers.

Joseph has played tennis since 7th grade and she’s been a captain since 10th grade. She was also named MVP as a 10th and 11th grader.

“It’s been fun to watch the program grow. When I came in 7th grade we had a losing record but our last year, we ended up going to state and placing 4th,” she said.

Fairmont High School’s tennis team made history when it went to state in the fall of 2021. It was the team’s first appearance since 1994.

Joseph has been long-time dancer. She started with Borchardt Dance Company at just three years old and she’s been on the school’s dance team since junior high.

“A lot of people just know that we perform at halftime, but they don’t know about the competitions and competitive aspects,” Joseph said.

Artz has been in track & field and hockey since 8th grade and has received a letter in both sports every year. He’s been a three-year hockey captain and two-year track & field captain.

That’s not all. Artz has also been big on football, playing throughout high school. He was a senior captain and a three-time all-district winner. He was also named defensive back of the year.

As for academics, Joseph has taken a variety of classes. Just this year, she’s in honor speech, anatomy and physiology, AP government, Spanish, calculus, broadcast journalism and intro to Latino studies, which has been her favorite. She called the class unique.

“It’s only been offered one other year. I really like the class. There’s an interesting community of people which makes for a good learning experience,” she said.

Joseph has also been in knowledge bowl, mock trial and National Honor Society. She’s a member of the student council and is a Fairmont School Board student member.

Last but certainly not least, Joseph is ranked number one in her class academically.

The classes Artz has taken are different than Joesph’s, but no less impressive. He’s taking college composition, three online college courses through Minnesota West: speech, art history and microeconomics, culinary and intro to flight.

“That’s probably the most interesting class I take. I thought it would be fun and easy, but you learn about not just flying, but about the industry,” he said.

Artz shared that his favorite subject is history, specifically government. Joseph said she really enjoys her Latino studies class as well as Spanish.

Outside of school, the two students have stayed busy. In the summer Joseph has helped coach various tennis camps and has also helped out with summer school. Artz can often be found in the weight room and has worked at Interlaken Golf Course on the weekends. He also referees hockey in the winter most weekends.

Joseph and Artz achieved all of that even though the end of their sophomore year and the beginning of their junior year were affected by Covid. They both expressed gratitude that their senior year has been more “normal.”

“We haven’t been affected by it too much,” Artz said.

“Sports has been pretty much the same. We’ve had all seasons,” Joseph added.

Looking back on their high school careers, Artz said his favorite moments have been surrounding sports, specifically football.

“The musical was a really unique experience I’ll never forget,” Artz said.

Joseph said going to state for tennis was a highlight for her. She said senior year has been going by fast and she’s trying to soak it all in.

As for the future, Artz is going to North Dakota State University, where he’ll play football. Joseph is undecided when it comes to where she wants to go, though she shared she’s been accepted to a number of schools.