Kylie Tucker named January Senior of Month

Perkins County Schools’ January senior-of-the-month honor has been given to Kylie Tucker.
Tucker is the daughter of Steve and Rachel Tucker.
While a student at Perkins County High School, Tucker has participated in multiple sports, clubs and other school activities.
During all four years of high school, she has been a member of the volleyball, basketball and track and field teams, as well as FFA and performed in the one act play.
Her sophomore through senior years, she was involved with speech and cheerleading.
Tucker has also been a member of the student council, science club, student government and participated in the school musical.
The last two years of high school, she has been a member of the National Honor Society, as well as serving as class vice-president her senior year.
She has received a number of letters for her work in school extracurriculars and has earned several other honors for various other activities, particularly FFA.
Outside of school, Tucker is active in 4-H and her church’s youth group.
She has contributed over 25 hours during her high school career doing community service such as Meals on Wheels delivery, a volunteer at youth basketball camp and volleyball camp, delivering phone books, wrapping Christmas gifts for the Women’s Resource Center and a server at the Alumni Banquet.
When she is not busy with extracurricular activities at school, Tucker is working on her family’s farm where she drives the grain cart, maintains their yard and helps clean and bag seed. She also helps her mother with her flower business, she said.
Beyond the family farm, Tucker has also worked with Doug Babbitt, an ag instructor at PCS and co-FFA advisor, during the summer.
She helped with the PC FFA chapter landscaping the Stumpf Extension Center—transplanting plants plus other nursery and landscaping projects.
One lesson she said she has learned from all her jobs is to stay organized.
She does this by keeping a plan of all the things she needs to get done including helping her dad, doing homework, cleaning the house, feeding animals, sports practices and games, meetings and church activities.
“This allows me to efficiently get things done,” Tucker said.
The accomplishment Tucker is most proud of from her time at Perkins County High School is helping start the “Living to Serve - Folds of Honor” project in the local FFA chapter, which raised over $4,000.
“In this project, we were living to serve by raising money for ‘Folds of Honor’ so they could give scholarships to children and spouses of fallen or disabled veterans,” she said. “It was a huge success in our area.”
What Tucker values most from her high school career is being able to take part in all the activities the school offers.
“I like that I can be in several activities at once, and they are all very different,” she said.         “I enjoy all the friendships I have made with my teammates and classmates, as well as the friendships I have made with people at other schools I’ve competed against. I hope these friendships will grow and continue for years and years to come,” she added.
Future plans
After high school, Tucker plans to complete her general education courses at York College, a private Christian college in York, Neb.
Once receiving her Associate’s degree, she plans to transfer to the University of Nebraska Lincoln to major in sports nutrition.
“It is my plan to become a professional sports nutritionist where I will advise athletes, professional teams and corporations on the nutrition their employees and members need for optimal performance on the playing field, court and even in the boardroom,” Tucker noted.
Support from the local community is something Tucker believes has helped shape who she is, and has allowed her to grow and develop as a person and a leader.
“I love our community because it is small, and everyone knows everyone,” she stated.
“I do my best to help support people in my community as much as I can because they support me so much,” she said. “I really enjoy meeting new people and getting the opportunity to make personal connections with people in our county and area.”
It is her goal to leave a positive and lasting impact on her community, she added.
Tucker’s picture will hang in the lobby of Pinnacle Bank of Grant in honor of being selected January’s Senior of the Month.
She will then be eligible to receive a scholarship at the end of the school year.
The student of the month and scholarship program are sponsored by Pinnacle Bank of Grant and members of the community.