Alton High's Annabelle Smith Named Rotary Student of the Month

ALTON - Annabelle Smith is a senior at Alton High School and has the wonderful opportunity to represent her school as one of two Rotary Students of the Month for September. She first off wants to thank the Rotary Club for having this honor available in her community and for giving students like her the ability to achieve such a high honor. She also wants to thank her parents, Scott and Katherine Smith, for always pushing her to be the best version of herself. Without them, she would not be standing here today.

Throughout her education, Annabelle has always tried to do her absolute best. She has taken great pride in getting good grades and achieving high honor rolls. She recalls attending LoveJoy Elementary and being so excited to have perfect attendance or be on the honor roll so that she could be called to the gym floor in the morning in front of the whole school to have Mr. Ducey say her name followed by her achievement. This excitement followed her until 7th grade when she received the letter in the mail offering her the opportunity to take honors classes in 8th grade at the middle school. She can proudly say that she has always loved trying her hardest in academics and greatly appreciates what comes with that hard work.

Alton High School has many wonderful clubs and organizations. Annabelle has always played volleyball for the school and has found it to be a wonderful way to occupy her time. Playing a sport has not been about winning games but about making memories and having a good time. As a senior this year, she is part of the National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta. She is excited to be a part of these two groups. She was able to participate in these groups because of her GPA of 4.211 and her participation in honors math classes. These clubs prioritize benefiting the community. The National Honor Society has given her many opportunities to participate in community service. Some of her favorite services she has participated in recently include picking up trash and showing incoming freshmen around the high school. She enjoyed these services so much because she initially felt they were not that important when she signed up for them. As she was picking up plastic bags and bottles filled with mystery liquid on Godfrey Road at 8 a.m. on a Saturday, she kept thinking about how much this was really benefiting anything. She felt this way until traffic started to pick up and cars going by began honking and stopping to thank them. This experience gave her a sense of community she had never felt before. She got this same feeling while walking 8th-grade students around the high school in August. At the beginning of the tour, she felt nobody was paying attention to her. But by the end of the tour, when she asked the students if they had any questions for her, she was asked questions she remembered being curious about when she was coming into high school. It made her recall how nervous she was to be a high school student. The group of students told her they felt much more confident approaching their first day of high school because of the information she provided.

In the future, Annabelle plans on attending nursing school at the University of Missouri, also known as Mizzou, and later becoming a Nurse Anesthetist. By the time she graduates from Alton High, she will have 33 credits from taking dual credit classes. She was inspired by her mother’s friend, who has a daughter that loves her job. Her friend told her about the things she does daily and the people she interacts with. Initially, Annabelle did not think it was the kind of job where people "save lives." Until her friend shared a story about a time she did, in fact, save a life. A man was having a terrible reaction to something after undergoing surgery. Her friend caught on quickly and was able to sedate him just in time for the doctors to administer the medication that saved his life. This story intrigued Annabelle and inspired her to become a nurse anesthetist. Thinking about her future excites her for many reasons.

She is so grateful for the parents she has because they have always inspired her to be great. She could not imagine having a different pair of role models in her life. Annabelle wants to thank the Rotary Club again for inviting her here tonight and for the opportunity to accept this honor.

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