PHS senior named 2026 Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete

Senior Jenna Ridings was selected as this year's St. Louis Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete from Pattonville High School. In its 60th year, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete program honors one student from every area school, a requirement being that they participate in athletics and excel in the classroom.

Ridings is ranked No. 23 in the Class of 2026 and swam for the Pirates. She qualified for state all four years, medaling seven times and being selected all-state first team twice. At the conference level, Ridings is three-year conference champion and was named to All-Metro teams two years in a row. She received All-Suburban Conference first team honors three times and was also the Suburban Conference Red Pool swimmer of the year in 2025. Ridings holds multiple records, including those at individual meets, and was a team caption. 

cademically, Ridings was named academic all-conference and earned the citizenship award three years (this year has not been announced). She has earned the Minds in Motion Scholar Activity Award for Academic Excellence; National Honor Society, Science Department Award; and Health-Science Department Award.

Ridings is also the senior class president and member of the English, Math, Science, Social Studies (Rho Kappa) and Spanish Honor Societies. She is involved in Health Occupational Student of America (HOSA) and Girls in STEM. Ridings is a member of the Pattonville Student Athlete Leadership Club and Link Crew, which helps freshmen transition to high school.

In addition, Ridings volunteers at SSM DePaul and is a member of Key Club, the oldest and largest student-led high school service organization in the world. She has also been a Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) swim meet lifeguard, Bridgeton Swim Team assistant and Big Bend Woods summer swim team assistant coach.

Riding's role model is Bella Sims, an Olympian who swims for the University of Michigan.

Ridings will continue her academic and athletic career at Butler University in Indiana as an NCAA Division I swimmer. She will major in biology on the pre-medicine track and minor in Spanish.

“I am very interested in the human body and how it works, and I want to go into the medical field so learning things like biology and anatomy are very important to me," said Ridings, who's favorite subject is anatomy. “I hope to make it through medical school and become a radiologist.”

Look for Riding's profile alongside other high school Scholar Athletes in the May 5 issue of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and on stltoday.com.