Voters choose A'Kia Surles as first Student of the Week of the school year

Montgomery Advertiser readers have chosen their first Student of the Week of the school year!

Student of the Week honors the hard work that high school students across the River Region put into their studies, their schools and their greater community every day, and it aims to recognize as many awesome high schoolers as possible. Every public and private high school in the outer Montgomery area is eligible to nominate one student a week who is exemplifying success in academics and community involvement.

This week's winner is A’Kia Surles of Park Crossing High School. A'Kia is a JROTC cadet and leads her team with pride.

School officials describe Cadet Surles as the true definition of a leader. She has no problem taking charge of her classmates, and they said she is someone who gives respect but she also demands it. Her class gravitates to her and listens when she is teaching. The core values of the AFJROTC program are Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in All We Do, and officials said Cadet Surles is the epitome of all of them.

Congratulations, A'Kia!

School administrators and high school teachers from across the Montgomery, Elmore and Autauga counties send in nominations for their top students, and readers get to pick the best of the best. Tens of thousands have cast their votes since the poll launched in January.

Here are the other impressive nominees for the honor this week:

Kamarie Burns, Autaugaville High School: Kamarie is a 10^th grader who is involved with basketball, is a member of the Student Council and is a member of FBLA. Kamarie maintains good grades while being super involved in school. School officials describe Kamarie as a class leader who goes above and beyond to get her work done, is always willing to lend a helping hand to her classmates and is a great student. 

Lauren Gordon, Prattville High School: A fourth-year cadet in the school's Air Force Junior ROTC program, school leaders describe Gordon as dedicated with superb leadership skills. She's among the top of the 132 cadets in her unit. As the Cadet Operations Group Commander, she's responsible for commanding the entire corps and overseeing the day-to-day general operations. Her unit finished first place overall at the 2024 Alabama State Drill, Academic and Fitness Competition hosted at Jacksonville State University. Gordon is also an active volunteer in her school and community. She has volunteered for 36 community service events, totaling more than 76 hours served.

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @gladlyalex.