Members of the Elizabethton Lions Club honored a local high school student for her achievements in not only academics but in citizenship as well on Thursday.

The Lions Club has reinstituted the practice of honoring one local student as the Lions Club High School Student of the Month. The students will be selected by the counselor at their school and then confirmed by the school’s principal.

“The criteria we are looking for will be good citizenship, behavior — grades (at least a 3.0 or better GPA — and how well the student gets along with his/her peers, teachers, and administrative staff,” said Nathanael Hughes, President of the Elizabethton Lions Club.

The selected student will be honored during a Lions Club meeting and presented with a special certificate along with a Walmart gift card.

On Thursday during the group’s luncheon meeting they presented the first award to Willow Barbe, a senior at Unaka High School.

Lions Club member Jerry Cole introduced Barbe at the Club meeting and detailed some of her accomplishments for the Club members before presenting her with the award.

Barbe maintains a high GPA and achieved an ACT score of 29. She is a member of the Beta Club, the Key Club, Upward Bound, the National Honor Society, and serves as the President of Unaka’s Health Occupations Students of America chapter.

After her graduation from Unaka, Barbe will attend East Tennessee State University where she plans to study nursing with the goal of becoming a nurse in emergency medicine at a hospital emergency room.

Unaka High School Counselor Lisa McGinnis attended the Lions Club meeting and offered praise for Barbe’s hard work and dedication.

“Willow is special to me because I had her in Kindergarten and again in 3rd grade and now I get to watch her graduate,” said McGinnis, adding it’s not often that a teacher gets to follow a student from their first day of school to their last.

“She is a good student and always has been,” McGinnis said, describing Barbe as studious and dedicated. “No doubt she will go far.”