Graduating Los Alamos High School senior, Sasha “Balto” Carr, will study Mechanical Engineering at Oregon State in the fall and continue pursuing her passion in theater lighting.  

Sasha has been an active member of the Los Alamos community from an early age, beginning as a joyful member of Trinity on the Hill Church since she was four when her family moved to New Mexico from Texas. She joined the youth choir before she could read and enjoyed many years under Dr. John Singleton and Dr. Andrea Schmidt’s tutelage. The choir sang for Bishop Hunn’s ordination, Rev. Triplett’s ordination, several small New Mexico mission churches (often doubling the congregation size for the day) and cathedrals in England. She attended Royal School of Church Music in America (RSCMA) King’s College Course in Wilkes-Barre, PA yearly for fellowship and music education. She raised funds for traveling with a wide variety of fund-raisers – some hard, some gross and a few easy.  Besides the youth choir, Sasha served as an acolyte, nursery attendant and sexton. She volunteered at many Fashion and Tea events and Children’s Christmas Bazaars. She participated in a house build in Juarez using the monies raised with various fundraisers.

Sasha’s range of interests and hobbies have taken her from the snow-covered peaks of Wyoming to the back rooms of theaters across New Mexico. She enjoyed voice lessons, recitals and singing in the Los Alamos Middle School and High School choirs for several years until she discovered her passion for backstage theater. She has been a Duane Smith intern under the guidance of Mr. Ryan Daly since middle school and has dedicated more than a thousand hours to lighting for the Olions, DALA, symphonies, bands, and orchestras in our community. She has been a member of the Olions since her freshman year and is concluding her term as President of the student board and head of the technical department.

Following in her brother’s, father’s and maternal grandfather’s footsteps, she became an Eagle Scout in 2022. As a founding member of the first girls troop in Los Alamos, she served as senior patrol leader twice and led many camping trips. She has camped, backpacked, skied, volunteered, rock climbed and kayaked all over New Mexico and parts of Colorado. Her troop joined T57 from Santa Fe for an epic 2 week backpacking trip in the WindRivers where she sang for hours cheerfully with her friends to the chagrin of the adults. She participated in a Philmont cavalcade and a National Youth Leadership Course. She completed the National Outdoor Award for camping (with a gold device) and for riding. The Veterans of Foreign Wars selected her as the NM Scout of the Year for 2023. 

Sasha is the daughter of David and Michelle Carr and step daughter to Chris Yeager.