Elijah Parker and Hannah Balkenbush of Durant High School have been selected as the Shamrock Bank Impact Athlete and Performing Arts Students of the month for October 2024.
Elijah, a senior, participates in cross country and track and is a member of “The Pride of Durant” band.
Parker is mainstay of the Lions cross country team earning top 15 medals in tournaments at Madill, Fort Washita and Wright City along with turning in strong showings in several other meets.
He received the”Champion of Good Character” Award for the 2023-24 DHS school year.
In addition, Elijah and his cross country teammates were recently named the 2024 State Academic champion.
“Elijah has been a blessing to coach,” DHS coach Amanda Reynolds said. “He is such a great kid and a hard worker!”
In the band, Parker plays tuba, is the First Chair and Section Leader and has been honored as the 2021-22 Outstanding 9th Grade Boy and the 2023-24 Outstanding 11th Grade Boy.
He is an outstanding student with a 3.98 grade point average and a perfect 4.0 average while taking concurrent classes at Southeastern. He is also a member member of the National Honor Society and the Choctaw Nation Youth Advisory Board.
Active in the community, Parker has served as a youth counselor at the Camp Resonate church camp and holds down at job at What-A-Burger.
Elijah plans to pursue a degree in the OU College of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma.
His parents are Steven and Samantha Dimas. His siblings are Noah Parker and Brett, Gabriel, Haley and Lydia Dimas.
Hannah Balkenbush is a highly decorated senior in choir and dance with numerous theatre credits.
She is a six-time All-State Honor Choir member, medalist on the OCDA All-State Honor Choir for three years and a six-year medalist in All-District Choir. Hannah regularly receives superior marks at district and state solo
competition.
Her other achievements include being accepted into Classical Vocal Intensive at New York University, attending the 2024 SWACDA Honor Choir in Denver, CO. and a singing at the 2023 OkMEA conference as a selected choir.
In theatre, Balkenbush has appeared as a dancer and ensemble cast member in The Oklahoma Shakespearean Festival presentation of “Beauty and the Beast” and Theatre at Southeastern productions of “9 to 5, the Musical”(where she also served as choreographer) and “Oklahoma.”
At DHS, Hannah has recorded a 3.977 unweighted grade point average and is a member of the National Honor Society and the Key Club. In addition, she is a teacher at the Academy of Performing Arts.
Her future plans include attending the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communications where she will major in Creative Media Production with a minor in Vocal Performance.
Hannah’s parents are Janice and Paul Balkenbush. She has a sister, Katie
Congratulations to Elijah Parker and Hannah Balkenbush the Shamrock Bank Impact Athlete and Performing Arts Students of the Month for October 2024.
