BUTTE — Butte High's Mattie Stepan aptly summed up how she feels about delivering anything less than excellence whether in the classroom or in athletics.
"Failure is just not a thing for me," said the Bulldog senior. "I don't accept bad grades, I do everything I can to get good grades in the classroom and I don't like to lose at all."
The three-sport athlete — soccer, wrestling and softball — has enjoyed plenty of success as both a student and an athlete. She took fourth place at the state wrestling tournament last February and in softball earned second-team all-conference honors and was named Butte's offensive MVP.
WATCH THE VIDEO:
Currently the third-ranked girls wrestler in the state at 155 pounds, and with her final state wrestling meet just a month away, her objective is pretty obvious.
"I'm not just going to settle to place again," said Stepan. "I want to win it. I want to be on the top, so it's a really big goal. I think I've pushed myself this year harder than I ever have."
And as a student, Stepan is just as determined and currently carries a 3.9 grade-point average. The reason she doesn't hold that coveted 4.0? She received a B in art class as a freshman.
"Just not very artistic," she conceded, noting she had hoped to complete some extra credit assignments to bump her grade up.
Stepan may be more athlete than artist, and she's also an aspiring physician. She recently completed her Foundations of Healthcare certificate through Montana Tech, enabling her to work as a Certified Nurse's Assistant to help her get real-world experience in the medical field. Her plan now is to attend hometown Montana Tech while working as a CNA, although she's also keeping open the possibility of playing college softball somewhere.
As a member of the Butte community, you can likely find her giving back to the Mining City by investing time with local kids, whether it's through wrestling camps run by Butte High or as a member of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America program.
For Stepan, it's all about filling a role that many young people don't have.
"You want to be there, especially for kids that don't have the best role models in their lives," she said. "So, if I can be a role model and someone for people to look up to, that's what I strive for."
From her the perspective of her dad, Montana Tech athletic director Matt Stepan, Mattie's drive to make a difference beyond just the classroom or athletics aligns with who she is as a person.
"She's a very caring and motivated individual," he said. "You can see it on the field and on the mats. But she's also an excellent student and good in the community. She just likes to be involved."
Her head wrestling coach, Geno Liva, had similar praise for Stepen.
"She's very compassionate," he said. "And she's always looking to help people."
A lot of adjectives and superlatives are utilized when writing a feature on a student-athlete but the word "compassionate" isn't typically a go-to phrase. But when asked how that word relates to her as a Butte High wrestling captain, Mattie Stepan gave a pretty thoughtful answer.
"As a leader, you have to have compassion," she said. "Wrestling's a really hard sport and it's hard for everybody. So I have to have compassion knowing that people are new, it's hard.
"If everybody had compassion, then there would be no problems. I just think compassion is very important to connect you to another person."
