Cast your vote now for the 2025 Sawtooth Leadership Academy scholarships!

Mountain States Policy Center is proud to announce the four finalists for the 2025 Sawtooth Leadership Academy scholarships.

Since the spring, Sawtooth students have been participating in a number of interactive classes with industry leaders, gaining practical insight and lessons that teach contributing to their communities as future leaders. In addition, each student is tasked with completing a study on a topic of their choosing.

The core of the Sawtooth Leadership Academy is our belief in putting Free Markets First. We believe that the free market – not government intervention – is the greatest force for good the world has ever known.

The top study, determined by votes on this page and the input of our board of directors, will receive the $5,000 Tim Hennessey and Hollary Harrison first place scholarship, which will be announced at MSPC's Fall Dinner in Boise on October 9th.

Here are the finalists:

• Gunner Cavener - Improving the Endangered Species Act: A reform for our environment and the economy

"This research analyzes the relationship between the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and free trade across Idaho, Montana, Washington, and Wyoming. The central argument of this paper is that through the faults of ESA, restrictions on commerce are imposed without sufficient preservation. The current propositions of reform throughout ESA address only a portion of the broader issues associated with the law. The ESA has and will produce a substantial amount of good. However, it needs reform and change. Throughout the paper, I will use other ecological acts or laws given by different states or the federal law. The ESA is the overarching act needing reform, but these acts/laws need reform as well."

• Garret Ahlstrom - The need for an Idaho strategic growth fund

"Idaho stands at a pivotal moment in its economic development trajectory. With rapidly growing populations, especially in urban and suburban regions, the state faces both the opportunity and the challenge of attracting sustainable, high-wage jobs that match its evolving labor force and infrastructure capacity. To meet this moment, this proposal introduces the Idaho Strategic Growth Fund (ISGF) — a performance-based incentive program designed to attract and retain high-impact businesses across the state."

• Jonas Yengst - Idaho would benefit from a state department of government efficiency

  "Adopting a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was and is a hot topic as President Trump entered the Presidency in January of 2025. Elon Musk, our ‘Dogefather,’ took on the unappreciative analysis of uncovering waste of taxpayer dollars in our beast of the federal government, but what about each state? Undoubtedly, every state in the Union should also uncover wasted taxpayer dollars. This paper will provide an overview of DOGE and Idaho’s financial landscape, focusing on its budget trends and income sources, by analyzing financial data from the past five years."

  
  

• Avery Nichols - The case for repealing Idaho's income tax

  "It is time for Idaho to do away with the antiquated and unethical income tax, but that’s a task much easier said than done. The income tax equates to a lion’s share of general fund revenue, and finding innovative solutions to supplement that revenue is paramount to the success of repealing the income tax. Fortunately, achieving this goal is possible, largely due to the abundance of the Gem State’s natural resources, as well as the ingenuity of other states that have overcome the same challenges."

  
  

Please cast your vote!

Who should receive the Tim Hennessey & Holly Harrison 2025 Sawtooth Leadership Academy scholarship?

• Cavener - "Improving the Endangered Species Act"
• Ahlstrom - "The case for an Idaho strategic growth fund"
• Nichols - "The case for repealing Idaho's income tax"
• Yengst - "Idaho would benefit from a state DOGE"