Franks, Nett Elks Teens of the Month

The Princeton Elks Lodge announced the Elks Teen of the Month nominees for February. They are Emily Urbanski of St. Bede (front row, from left), Ryan Nett of Hall, Zachary Jacobson of Bureau Valley, Daniel Uher of St. Bede, Matthew Holland of Princeton. In the second row are Emily Kraemer of Hall (from left), Samantha Fehlhafer of Princeton, Joellen Johnson of Ohio, Haley Franks of Bureau Valley, Patricia Orozco of LaMoille and Penny Best of the Elks. The female and male teens of the month were Franks and Nett. (BCR photo/Jessica Gray)

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PRINCETON — The Princeton Elks Lodge 1461 recently announced the male and female Teens of the Month for February were Haley Franks of Bureau Valley High School and Ryan Nett of Hall High School.

The purpose of the Elks Teen of the Month program is to recognize teens with outstanding overall achievements in character, leadership, service, citizenship and scholarship. The high school teens of the month attended a luncheon in their honor.

Haley Franks, 18, of Walnut, a senior at Bureau Valley High School, is the daughter of Mick and Kris Franks. She is third in her class of 95 with a 3.87 grade point average. She had an ACT score of 27 and is a member of the National Honor Society and on the honor roll.

Franks is a National Honor Roll Student and an Illinois Student Assistance Commission State Scholar. She was awarded the Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award, the President’s Education Award and is a Society for Academic Achievement letter recipient.

 She was class vice president her junior and senior years and president of the student council her senior year. She has played volleyball and club volleyball throughout her high school career as well as one year of track.

She participated in four years of school plays and three years of school musicals. She is or has been a member of the Home Economics Club, an Executive Science Club officer and Foreign Language Fair organizer, Varsity Club, Spanish Club, Drama Club, Student Council and teacher’s aide.

As a volunteer, Franks has participated in the Pass It On Store, the Challenge Weekend, vacation Bible school, Walnut Park District soccer coach, Poms Invitational, BVHS concession stands, roadside cleanup for IDOT, track and field scorer, golf scorer, organizer for SOS Care Package Collection, Dodgeball Tourney for Charity and United Way.

Her hobbies are volunteering, scrapbooking, shopping and playing with her little brother.

Franks has been accepted and plans to attend the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana to double major in accounting and a pre-law program. She hopes to get her juris doctorate in finance and become a taxation lawyer for a law firm.

Ryan Nett, 18, of Spring Valley, a senior at Hall High School, is the son of Steve and Becky Nett. He is first in his class of 88 with a 5.28 grade point average. He had an ACT score of 34. He has been in the top four in his class and on the high honor roll all four years.

He has been awarded the Hugh O’Brien Leadership Award, DAR Award and is a National Honor Society nominee, a Chicago Tribune all-state academic team nominee, and has received the Wendy’s Heisman and third place WYSE.

He was all-conference academic in football his junior and senior years and basketball for the past three years.

He participated in school plays and musicals all four years and football and basketball for four years and baseball for three years. In basketball, he received all-area honorable mention twice, all-conference honorable mention twice and Senica Turkey Tournament all-tourney team his senior year. He received all-conference honorable mention in football his senior year.

He was a member of the chorus and mixed chorus all four years and the Red & White Chorale his junior and senior years. He was a member of the Spanish Club all four years, Spanish National Honor Society, Honorary Activities Club and Mentors.

He was a volunteer coach for Hall basketball camp, a freshman orientation volunteer and eighth-grade open house volunteer.

He plays guitar, piano and the harmonica. His favorite sport is basketball and he enjoys ping pong and football. His hobbies are reading and fishing.

Nett plans on attending a four-year university to major in biochemical or biomedical engineering and continue on to graduate school. He hopes to go on and play basketball in college.