MARYSVILLE – Alexis Bennett and T.J. Severn of Marysville-Pilchuck High School are the February Students of the Month, as selected by the Marysville Kiwanis and Soroptimists clubs.

Bennett wants to be a doctor. A grandmother who died of cancer was one of the reasons for that goal. She also is an avid swimmer so she’s interested in sports medicine. She’s interested in injuries and anatomy, but she’s not sure if she wants to be a surgeon because she’d like a family someday, too.

Bennett said neither of her parents graduated from college, and she had to grow up fast because of family issues. But that has made her even more determined to succeed and do things herself.

She said she likes challenges so Running Start has been a good fit because, “They all went to be there.” Going to college, along with high school, has also helped her with time management.

At school, she’s mainly been involved in swimming, being captain of the team her junior and senior years. She went to districts all four years. She’s been on the Mighty Marlins Swim Club since she was 10, swimming 48 weeks a year. She also volunteers there to help at swim meets.

She works at the Stillaguamish Athletic Club in Smokey Point as an instructor.

For two summers she volunteered as a camp counselor, and one year she helped save a boy struggling in Flowing Lake with her lifesaving skills.

She loves being on swim teams.

“The team became like family, and it opened doors for me,” she said.

She’s on the National Honor Society and tutors fellow students. She said she likes helping people understand things, which is one reasons she has volunteered to tutor math at Grove Elementary School. Severn is into basketball and the outdoors.

He is part of the M-P team that won the league title the past two years. He was part of the team that went to Italy and coached a basketball camp there.

“They wanted our autographs,” he said. “It was like we were on the Olympic team.”

Severn also coaches fundamentals at the M-P camp each year. He once helped coach a select basketball team and helps out at the gym at the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club.

He also volunteers with the You Gotta Love This Place cleanup at M-P, at the food bank and at the Spee-Bi-Dah Community Potluck. He’s been on the honor roll and has a 3.88 grade point average. Severn excels at art, even though he’s only taken a few courses. He’s placed first at the Tulalip Art Show three times.

When he’s not playing basketball, Severn likes to be outdoors. He goes commercial fishing with his uncle in the San Juans. He also enjoys crabbing and hunting, even if he doesn’t harvest anything.

He wants to attend either Washington State or Central Washington and get a degree in natural resources and, “Come back and help the tribe.”

Severn

Bennett