December students of the month, as selected by the Marysville Kiwanis and Soroptimist organizations, are Daniel Ekdahl and Maribel Montes de Oca. Both are seniors attending Marysville-Pilchuck High School.

With a cumulative GPA of 4.0, Daniel is currently the top student in his class of 608 peers. He exhibits leadership as senior class president and Volunteer Club president, and is the 2009 recipient of the M-PHS Leadership Award. During his high school career, he has also served as president of Youth Group and attended the Washington Association of Student Councils conference and Mt. Baker Leadership Camp.

He was voted Most Likely to Succeed by his classmates during the 2007 school year and is a member of the National Honor Society.

As impressive as his academic accomplishments are, Daniel is also an active teen who likes to have fun. He has been a member of the tennis and track teams, and participated in the 2008 Halloween Fun Fest and the 2009 Senior Cruise.

Daniel is also involved in community and church activities, and volunteers with the Food Bank, the Parks and Recreation Department, and Catholic Relief Services.

Maribel Montes De Oca is also a strong student whose focus is on practical education. Maribel is a member of Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) and DECA, a business leadership organization, and was named the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Student of the Quarter during this academic year. She has also remained on the school's Honor Roll for all four of her high school years.

Active in her community, Maribel has been a volunteer for the Food Bank, the Providence Hospital Festival of Trees, OMCC, Sea-Mar Clinic Winter Fest, Ronald McDonald House and several school events.

Maribel is also a proponent of cultural diversity and has served as coordinator of the Cinco De Mayo Festival for four years. She was a Multicultural Club counselor during her sophomore and junior years, and volunteered for the Philippine Ceremony at Seattle University and the Multicultural Club Community Assembly as a sophomore.

Her leadership skills have been heightened by attendance at the DECA State Fall Leadership Conference, the FBLA Leadership Conference and Washington State Business Week. Maribel was also nominated for M-P School Spirit Queen.

Congratulations to both these outstanding students.