The winner for the Washington Award for Vocational Excellence was announced recently as Oak Harbor High School senior Lauren Lindberg.

The WAVE award, which was created in 1984 by the state Legislature, recognizes students who excel in career and technical education. Recipients receive monetary grants for undergraduate educational tuition for two years at a public or private college, or vocational school.

Lindberg began an interest in business after enrolling in her first marketing class. Building on those skills she enlisted in the Retail Management class, or Student Store, as a junior. During her senior year, she worked as one of two store managers.

“She doesn’t need to be asked or reminded but recognizes needs of the Student Store or of her classmates and steps in to do it. Her commitment to recognize and fix problems is relentless,” marketing instructor Eric Peterson said.

Lindberg also leads a team of three students in applying for Gold Certification for the Student Store as a School Based Enterprise with the marketing organization DECA. The document took over two months of hard work.

This year she qualified for the state DECA competition with a partner in the travel and tourism event.

“Day in and day out Lauren is smiling, friendly, willing to always be of assistance and is a good friend. It is easy to see why her peers look to her as a non-judgmental leader — always friendly but tough with them,” Peterson said.