Vanja, a student from Serbia, has been selected as the A-SMYLE student of the month for December 2012. Vanja is a very talented singer and was selected to attend the St. Olaf Music Academy for a weekend seminar and to sing in a concert for an audience of 1500 in November. During International Education Week she gave 14 presentations to her classmates and community, opening the presentations by singing opera. To make them even more memorable, she enlisted the help of her classmates to role play a traditional Serbian wedding complete with traditional food. She also taught her schoolmates to write their names in Serbian Cyrillic. Vanja has been interviewed by the school newspaper and enjoys volunteering in her community. During the November elections, she handed out ballots at voting booths and explained voting procedures to voters. In addition, she worked with elementary school teachers at a workshop for gifted and talented students and participated in a fundraiser the night before Thanksgiving where people came to the bowling alley in her town and bowled with frozen turkeys. Needless to say, it was a "Thanksgiving to remember."

Congratulations Vanja!