Elise Byers and Paul Wanzek have been selected as the Elks Students of the Month for December 2007.

Both received checks for $100 at a recent Lodge meeting and now become eligible for the year-end awards that go to the most outstanding boy and girl selected from the monthly winners. Both are seniors at Hood River Valley High School.

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Elise, a senior, is a very outgoing, fun-loving and involved young lady who is very busy helping others. She has been a Link Crew Leader for three years at HRVHS, helping other younger students become acclimated to high school life.

She is very active in Chamber Leaders for Tomorrow, learning about her community and helping with various projects such as the Harvest Festival. She is a leadership volunteer, helping serve the elderly and working with the United Way program.

Other volunteer services include the Big Brother/Big Sister program, helping with the annual blood drive and Relay for Life, helping raise money to fight cancer. She has donated time and effort to kids’ programs like the Great Pumpkin Express and Safe Halloween projects as well as the Cross Channel Swim.

Two larger projects include the ASB canned food drive and the Christmas Basket project for needy families.

Elise has been the varsity tennis team for two years and also ran on the cross country team her freshman and sophomore years. Summer activities include working at various jobs.

She is the daughter of Julie and Telford Byers and she has as older sister, Allison. This coming fall she plans to attend the University of Oregon and major in business or marketing.

In her spare time she enjoys riding bikes with her dad and attending high school football and basketball games.

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Paul is an adventurous, outgoing young man who is equally active and busy at school and in the community.

A senior, he has a wide variety of things he is involved with. He is very active in the Wind Ensemble and Chamber Singers and last year toured with them to Scotland and England.

Paul was the stage manager for the HRVHS production of the last two fall musicals, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Children of Eden.” He is active in the Spectrum musical group and the jazz band.

Paul is a member of National Honor Society and served as vice president his junior year and this year is serving as president.

He has been involved with Community Work Day, excavating and building a community bike course. Paul also helped a friend complete his Eagle Scout award project by helping him resurface some of the trails behind the high school.

He has been active for two years with the high school Christmas Basket project, four years on the canned food drive and two years with the Spring Fling.

Paul is the son of Mary Iskra and Don Wanzek and has an older brother, Tom, a sophomore at OSU, and a younger sister, Anne.

This fall Paul will attend either Western Washington or Linfield (where he has been accepted). His field of study is yet to be determined but he is leaning toward a teaching degree or a career in math or science. In his spare time he enjoys playing poker, playing the guitar and the bass, lacrosse, snowboarding and freeboarding.

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