M-P students honored for community involvement

Marysville-Pilchuck High School seniors Alexis Bennett and T.J. Severn were honored for their community service and academic engagement with the February Student of the Month awards.

The awards are given out monthly by the Marysville Kiwanis and Soroptimist clubs to one boy and one girl in the Marysville School District.

T.J. Severn was recognized for his participation in the community.

Since 2016 he has been a varsity basketball player with the M-PHS team.

He has helped a variety of local events with his basketball knowledge, including volunteering at the M-PHS basketball camp from 2016 to 2019, helping basketball tryouts in 2018 and 2019 and serving as assistant coach for a 7th grade team in 2017.

In Italy T.J. also volunteered for a basketball camp in 2017.

Other volunteer efforts include helping at the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club in 2016 and helping to improve the M-PHS campus with the You Gotta Love This Place program for two years.

For a number of years T.J. has also volunteered with local food banks.

Beginning in 2013 he has also been a frequent volunteer for Tulalip’s Spee-Bi-Dah Community Potluck.

Every Christmas since 2010 T.J. has helped to sponsor a foster child for the holiday season as well.

T.J. was on the honor roll in 2014 and 2015 and currently holds a cumulative GPA of 3.88.

That is with course work that includes AP Composition, AP Chemistry and AP Calculus.

In the Tulalip Art Show he has also taken first-place honors in 2012, 2018 and 2019.

Alexis Bennett was also honored for her frequent work within and outside of her school.

She has been part of the swim and dive team for the last four years, including practicing swimming for 13 hours a week and serving as captain for the last two years.

Since 2010 she has been part of the Mighty Marlins Swim Club.

Alexis often volunteers at the concession stand or as a timer at the club’s events.

At the Stillaguamish Athletic Club Alexis works as a swim instructor.

For the last two summers she has also been a volunteer at a local swim camp, where she has been a camp counselor who leads campers through exercises, stretches, activities and games.

She wrote that she plans on volunteering for the camp again this upcoming summer.

At Grove Elementary she has also volunteered as a tutor and assists students who need help with their math assignments.

Alexis also tutors students as part of the National Honor Society, which she has been a part of since 2019. At the club she volunteers for both her community and school.

She plans to eventually go to medical school.

“Following high school, I plan on attending the University of Washington where I will complete my bachelor’s degree as a pre-med major before applying to medical school,” she wrote.