Camree Krawczak is Ferndale Kiwanis Student of the Month for January. Camree was recognized by Kiwanis at a luncheon held January 7. Camree is a senior at Ferndale High School. She is an academic scholar and takes great pride in her involvement in her school community and the greater Ferndale Community.

While maintaining a 4.0 grade point average, Camree has received many honors and awards. To name a few — Outstanding Integrity Award, Attendance Honors, WIAA Leader in Sportsmanship Award, All-American Cheer nominee and Superior Ribbon for solo and ensemble singing. 

Camree participates in Honor Society, DECA, swim, cheer, theatre, choir, Spanish, tennis, and leadership. Camree says, "I'm proud to be captain of the FHS Cheer squad because my mom cheered for FHS and my younger sister is cheering with me now so I feel blessed to continue the legacy."

In her leadership role, she has served as Freshman Class President, Sophomore Class Secretary, Junior Executive ASB Pro-tempore and Senior Executive President.

DECA has allowed her to learn about the business world through role play in DECA competitions. This is important to Camree because she plans to pursue a business marketing degree. "After I graduate, I plan to immediately start attending four-year college to pursue a degree in business marketing with a minor in Spanish. I hope to have the opportunity to travel abroad and study in a different country for my minor," Camree said. Camree plans to attend Utah State University where she has been accepted into the Huntsman Scholar Program. Only about 100 freshmen are admitted to this program each year.

Camree works part-time for Edaleen Dairy in Ferndale where she has the good fortune to learn about the business world and interacts with many community members in the process. She said her job earnings are put toward her education goals.

Music has always been a big part of Camree's upbringing. She began playing piano at age 5 or 6, moved to the violin at 8 or 9, then to the flute in middle school. At the high school level, she participates in choir as a soprano 1, theatre productions and music competitions. At an All-Northwest choir competition, she received a superior rating for a solo performance. 

"Starting in eighth grade, I decided to make an effort to be more involved in my community," said Camree. Citing that poverty is a real issue in the community, Camree has been devoted to and provided many volunteer hours to the Ferndale Food Bank for the past four years. 

Crediting her parents, Camree said they influenced and pushed her in the right direction to become self-motivated. For that she is grateful. She said her mom, in particular, has shown Camree what hard work is all about. Mom, Erin, was the first out of five girls in her family to graduate college and go on to be successful in raising a family and in her work. "She set a good example for me to follow, but she is always pushing me to want to be better and make her proud," Camree said.

When asked where she thinks she will be in five years, she responded, "I hope to have graduated from college, possibly be in grad school, start a job in the business world and be a world traveler." 

Camree, congratulations and thank you for all that you do for our community.

Thank you to Ferndale Kiwanis for its continued support of our students. In addition to annual scholarships, each month Kiwanis recognizes one of our high school students.