Danyelle Kottke has been chosen as the Youth Optimist for the month of November at Merrill High School. Danyelle was nominated by Ms. Holly Hartwig, who states: “Danyelle is one of the hardest working people I know. Not only is she involved in many different organizations, but she is also taking many AP and college courses her Senior year and working a part-time job. Danyelle’s work ethic and personality shine through everything she is involved in, and she makes a positive impact on the others around her. She is consistently trying to help others around her better themselves, as well as working on becoming better for herself. Danyelle is a natural leader in and out of the classroom, and I think she will thrive in her future endeavors.”

Ms. Hartwig goes on to say: “I love working with Danyelle through our activities in 4-H. She is the girl who will be the first to volunteer to help out with our different activities and perform these tasks with a smile on her face. She has become an excellent role model to our younger members showing pigs, helping many of our first-year showers before they enter the show ring. This year, Danyelle was a huge help to me during the fair (our big event for 4-H). She would ask me many times throughout to help the judge during the carcass contest, in which she recorded data as the judge was measuring, and created the results (this is a big job to do alone, and Danyelle easily was able to conquer this task by herself).”

During her high school years, Danyelle has been active with Math League, Dance (Varsity Letter), Soccer, National Honor Society, Jr. Optimist, Merrill FFA, Link Crew, Raise Your Voice, and Student Council.
Outside of school, Danyelle has volunteered for 4-H, Sunday School Teacher, Summer Soccer Coach, Make a Difference Day, and Special Olympics Track Meet.

After graduation, Danyelle plans to attend UW-LaCrosse to become a physician assistant. She is the daughter of Ryan and Chad Kottke.