Eli Barger

Eli Barger, born December 12, 2005, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was a great final addition to his family of six. He has an older brother, Laker, and two older sisters, Jerricka and Autumn. He’s lived here in Madison all his life, allowing him to be close to his grandparents and two nieces.

Before Eli kicks the bucket, he would love to travel through all fifty states, hunt elk, golf at Augusta National, bench press three hundred pounds, and squat five hundred pounds. He is strong, thanks to his dad's incredible natural strength. Eli plays video games, golfs, hunts, and hangs out with his family and friends whenever he has the time. When asked the last time he laughed so hard he cried, he answered, “I was playing GTA with my friends and we exploded a car. This made my friend Max laugh so hard he made a honking noise, and that made me laugh so hard I started to cry.”

Eli Barger is about to graduate high school and begin the next chapter of his life. He intends to enroll at the University of South Dakota to get a nursing degree and become a nurse anesthetist. After he’s accomplished that, Eli sees himself becoming the person he’s always wanted to be with a loving wife and three kids, and enjoying life to the fullest. 

His advice for underclassmen is, “Don’t be the same person you were when you entered high school; you have to change to be successful.” He isn’t afraid of many things, but one thing, he says, is, “I am afraid of how fast time goes by and how quickly my time as a high schooler has gone by. No, this does not stop me; if anything, it makes me make the most of the time that I have as a kid.” He would like to give special thanks to his mom for creating such a wonderful person whose future is just beginning.