Emily Pottebaum, child of Scott and Amy Pottebaum, is one of November’s Kiwanis Students of the Month.  Emily has a 4.125 GPA and her three favorite classes are AP Calculus, AP Language and Composition, and Physics.  She likes these classes not because they’re challenging, but because they all happen to be topics that she enjoys.

After school, is she involved in Speech and Drama, which have taught her presentation skills along with how to overcome anxiety.  She also tutors kids in math in her spare time which has taught her about leadership and learning styles. On top of that, once a week, Emily is a “Big Sister” in her mother’s classroom.  She also participates in, “Academic Decathlon, which has taught me about… Africa.”

She plans to attend Iowa State and her intended major is Physics,  “with an emphasis on Astronomy, …gotta have that space.”

When asked for advice on how to be successful in school or life, Pottebaum said, “Resilience is one of the most important traits you can have, because there’s gonna be failures and there’s gonna be hard times.  Bad things happen to you, but you have to learn to grow from those–to bounce back and learn from them.”

To her, being Kiwanis Student of the Month means that, “I’m pretty involved, and I work hard in my classes.”  She also said that she was honored to have been chosen.

Davis Barton, child of David and Melissa Barton, is one of two Kiwanis Students of the Month for November.  He maintains a 3.5 GPA and personally enjoys math, Construction, and Physics more than any other subjects because he likes the teachers who teach them, and math is “easy if you know numbers.”

His extracurriculars of choice range from football to soccer to TSA, and they all have taught him “to keep pushing and trying even if the outcome isn’t what you want.”

He has volunteered for his Soccer Club for the past four years, where he helps little kids learn soccer through the camps they put on.  He also participates in Meals of the Heartland with his dad’s work.

He plans to attend college at ISU and wants to major in either civil engineering, industrial engineering or mechanical engineering.

When asked what advice he’d give to others on success in school or life, he replied, “Times get tough but you have to keep pushing on.”

To him, being Kiwanis Student of the Month means that he’s being “recognized for [his] efforts.”  Those efforts include his tireless campaign for positivity in everything he does during the school day.