OGLESBY — The Oglesby Elks announce their October Teens of the Month are Gianna Pozzi and Jacob Schirz.
Pozzi, a senior at Hall High School, is the daughter of JoAnn Pozzi and the late Robert Pozzi Jr. She is currently first in her class. She has been on the high honor roll since her freshman year. She is also in the National Honor Society. She has also taken multiple honors and dual credit classes. She was the vice president of her class her freshman and sophomore years, becoming the president her senior years. She was the Student Council treasurer her junior year.
She was in basketball her freshman and sophomore years, in volleyball and softball all four years and was also a co-captain of the volleyball team her senior year. She was in Spanish Club all four years and the Science Club her junior and senior years.
She was the Illinois Junior Paint Horse Club president for two years, vice president for two years and treasurer for one year. She was the Wisconsin Junior Paint Horse Club president for three years and vice president for two years. She has been the American Junior Paint Horse Association National Director for six years. She was a three-time World Champion, three-time Reserve Champion at the American Paint Horse Association World Show in Fort Worth, Texas. She was No. 2 in the National Top 20 American Paint Horse Association two times. She was APHA Honor Roll No. 1 in national titles multiple times. She is also a Baylor University Equestrian Commit for the fall of 2021.
Within Student Council and National Honors Society, she has worked food drives, toy drives, Santa’s on the Run 5k run/walks, made letters for patients and healthcare workers at the hospital during the hard times of the pandemic. She has helped gather money for families in need within the “Paint Horse family” and gather food for food pantries and items for various animal shelters through her Paint Horse Clubs and Associations. She loves spending her weekends traveling the country to show her horse, Wishbone. She also enjoys spending time with her friends and family, playing various sports, studying to remain at the top of her class, and training to become a better in her sports and horse showing. She enjoys pushing herself to be the best that she can be and is always trying to reach for the stars.
Schirz, a senior at St. Bede Academy, is the son of Nick and Stacey Schirz. He is ranked second in his class.
He has been on the honor roll all four years. He received the math award his freshman and sophomore years. His junior year he received the history and English awards. He competed on the WYSE team where his team placed fourth at state. Individually, he placed first in chemistry and third in computer science at regionals. At sectionals, he finished first in chemistry again and improved his computer science by finishing in first. Then at the state level, he finished third in computer science and sixth in chemistry.
He was in the Last Supper club all four years and even helped plan several of their meeting locations. His junior and senior year, he has been a part of SBA’s Ambassadors where he helped interview those hoping to become an Ambassador in the future. He was on the Scholastic Team since his sophomore year. He was in the Tech Club his freshman year. He was a Eucharistic minister his senior year. He was also an altar server since his sophomore year. He has also helped at SBA’s annual auction fundraiser his freshman and sophomore years.
He played tennis all four years. He was in bowling his junior and senior years. As a senior, he became a co-captain of both of these teams as well. He has had art pieces of his appear in local art shows, as a result of the art classes he took while in high school.
Though not through the school, he has learned how to play the piano and the guitar. He has played in front of audiences at Holy Family Church for Masses as well as for family and friends. He has volunteered to help with CCD as a sophomore and junior. He has been volunteering as an altar server at Holy Family since his freshman year and at St. Bede since his sophomore year. Jacob has also been volunteering through the SBA Ambassador program since his junior year.
He enjoys playing the piano and guitar personally and for others as well. He plays mostly for family and friends and at his church but hopes to find other opportunities in the future. He also enjoys spending time with family and friends. He likes playing different sports around town with friends and sometimes even with kids he doesn’t know that happen to walk by. He started working at a root beer stand in the summer of 2019 and enjoys it as well.