On March 20, the Twin Valley Rotary club was proud to honor Twin Valley High School seniors Emilija Lizins and Kylie McNamee as their students of the month. The presentation was made at their weekly meeting. Emilija and Kylie were honored for their participation in extra-curricular activities and outstanding academic achievement.
Emilija Lizins fills up her time after school with involvement in many in school clubs, as well as out of school activities. She has been a member of Leo Club for four years, and was the treasurer of the club for two years. She was nominated and selected to be a member of National Honor Society in her sophomore year, and is currently the secretary. She was also nominated and inducted as a member of National French Honors Society in her sophomore year, and currently holds the secretary position in the French Honors Society. Emilija has also been a part of the Heroes program at the high school, which is an opportunity for high school students to create and teach lessons to the elementary schools in the district.
Outside of school, Emilija is a competitive Irish Dancer with the McDade-Cara School of Irish Dance. She has qualified for and received high rankings at the World Championships for the past seven years. She has also competed in 10 national championships and 12 regional championships. Both nationally and regionally, she has received high rankings and world qualifying titles numerous times. Competitive Irish Dancing has also allowed Emilija to travel all over the world for championship competitions. She has traveled to Ireland, Scotland and England many times. Emilija also enjoys performing in parades, at elementary schools, in nursing homes, and hospitals throughout the “St. Patrick’s Day season.” At her dance studio, Emilija has the opportunity to help in the beginner level classes, as well as give private lessons to the younger dancers in order to help them improve their technique. Along with Irish Dancing, Emilija enjoys taking ballet and contemporary dance classes at the Lionville School of Irish Dance. She has performed in multiple recitals as well as “Nutcracker” performances. During the summers, when Emilija is not dancing, she attends a Latvian High School Summer Program in Michigan where she gets to learn and expand her Latvian culture and strengthen her bilingualism. The summer program includes courses on Latvian history, geography, and literature, taught in Latvian, and Emilija has received recognition for academic excellence on the final exam in literature. In the future Emilija plans to further her education at a university, on which she has not decided yet. However, she has been accepted in multiple schools including Purdue, Syracuse, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of New Hampshire, University of Rhode Island and Northeastern. Emilija plans to major in civil engineering, as well as potentially minoring in architecture.
Kylie McNamee is a senior at Twin Valley High School, and throughout her four years, she has been able to experience and accomplish a variety of things. Kylie has played soccer since she was 5-years-old, and she has continued playing for the Twin Valley High School Girls Soccer team and for club teams throughout high school. Due to her success in rigorous AP and Honors courses and her consistent dedication to community service, she was inducted into the TVHS National Honor Society during her sophomore year. She has also been an active member of Spanish National Honor Society, Mini-THON, High School Heroes, Health Occupations Students of America, and Student Council. She has also enjoyed working at a local retirement home for the past two years. Additionally, she is ranked in the top three of the senior class and was voted senior class president this year. Kylie plans on attending the accelerated five-year Medical Studies program at DeSales University and pursuing a career as a physician assistant. In the future, she hopes to have an impact on healthcare and to help patients around the country. She would like to thank her amazing family and friends for all of their love and support and she is excited about what the future has in store.
