Steamboat Pilot & Today

The Steamboat Springs Optimist Club announced its selection of teen of the month recently for September, October and November.

The club honors a local teen every month during the school year who has contributed to his or her school and/or community.

The teen of the month for September is Soroco senior Matt Hayne. Hayne has lettered in football, basketball, track and cross-country and was awarded the All Star Award for Who's Who in Sports.

He is also a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol and has been involved in fund-raising for that organization.

He has received the Colorado School of Mines medal of achievement in math and science, is on the honor roll and has received a Soroco High School academic letter.

Hayne has served on student council and has been president of 4-H in south Routt.

He has been honored as a grand champion in 4-H in woodworking, model rocketry and multimedia presentation. He has been selected a DARE role model and wrote a grant for the Grand Futures Drug Prevention Coalition. Hayne has volunteered time with the Routt County Fair, River Watch, Advocates Against Battering and Abuse, Make-A-Wish Foundation and is a member of the Future Business Leaders of America.

His hobbies are fishing, camping, flying, sports and computers. He is a cancer survivor who has traveled to Australia, has worked in the retail, restaurant and lawn-maintenance businesses and plans to attend college at the Colorado School of Mines or another good engineering school.

He is interested in aerospace and astronautical engineering.

His advice to fellow students: "Set goals and strive to achieve them, but don't get so caught up in the future that you forget to appreciate and enjoy the present."

Steamboat Springs High School senior Lauren Dargevics has been named the October teen of the month. She serves on student council and the French Club, is a member of the National Honor Society, has received an academic letter and awards for artistic talent and weightlifting.

She is also on the varsity volleyball team.

Dargevics is a volunteer for Advocates Against Battering and Abuse and recently assisted in the planning and promotion of

its awareness month, involving all students at all grade levels. She has also volunteered for Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. and the Lyons Club.

She is an accomplished ballet student who recently danced in a major role in "The Nutcracker."

Her hobbies include ballet, volleyball and world travel. She has worked in retail sales, secretarial work, child care and as a hostess at a local restaurant.

Her advice to local students: "Fulfill your potential."

Andrew Litzau, also a senior at Steamboat Springs High School, has been selected as the November teen of the month. Andrew has served on student council and was a National Merit Scholar (1999-2000).

Some of Litzau's interests include soccer, leadership class and technical theater, and he is an accomplished chef.

He attended the National Young Leaders conference in November 1999.

Through the leadership class, he has volunteered with LIFT-UP, the United Way, Steamboat Springs elementary and middle schools and more.

He traveled to Europe last summer with other local soccer enthusiasts to play and watch soccer.

Litzau has been employed by Lyon's Drug, Kinderhaus Family Center and Cugino's and Pisa's restaurants.

His goals include attending college and earning a degree in culinary arts and hotel/restaurant management and someday owning a restaurant and having a family.

Litzau's advice to fellow students: "Open your eyes and see people for who they really are and not just what they look like."