Fresh off 'The Voice,' Dundee-Crown teen Riley Elmore celebrated by school

He might no longer appear on NBC, but Riley Elmore remains “The Voice” of Dundee-Crown High School.

The West Dundee 16-year-old vows to keep singing, with plans to create his own YouTube channel and release a Christmas song.

Celebrated by staff and students at Dundee-Crown, the junior performed with the school’s choir and jazz band, answered questions about Adam Levine (“He was a cool guy”) and his favorite part of the show (“teaching myself to stay humble”) and posed for pictures with classmates during a Monday assembly.

Elmore had advanced to the live Top 20 playoff round of the reality television show, airing Nov. 7. His rendition of his idol Frank Sinatra’s “Luck Be a Lady” did not garner enough votes for him to move on to the Top 12.

Yet, he told the crowd, he’s thankful for the entire experience, thanking the school and his parents, Michael and Joan, who watched along with his younger sister, Lily, a Dundee-Crown freshman, from the bleachers.

“See ya around school,” he told the crowd.

As photographs of Elmore appeared in a large slide show, District 300 Superintendent Fred Heid presented him with an award and congratulated him on his professionalism, maturity and talent.

“Please don’t forget us when you’re famous,” Heid said, adding Riley could make a future check out to the district and him.

Fellow students held up pictures of Riley and cheered as he sang two songs accompanied by the jazz band.

Elmore made it onto “The Voice” singing a jazzy rendition of Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight,” which brought his coach Adam Levine on stage for an impromptu duet. Elmore’s rendition reached number one on the iTunes jazz chart that next day.

At school, several classmates said Elmore has remained the same Riley he’s always been – humble, goofy and kind.

“He acts the same on national television than he would on a Friday night,” said junior Nathan Stone, one of several of Elmore’s friends asked to speak about him during the assembly.

All said they’ve been inspired by Elmore to follow their dreams and have been swept up in his latest venture.

“I literally got hyped,” said freshman Kyle Huber, whom Elmore mentors in choir. “After each performance, I felt like jumping on the couch.”

He said he couldn’t help but brag to friends and family that he sits next to Elmore in choir. “They were all shocked,” he said. “They were all like, ‘Really? He’s so cute.’ ”

Months ago, Joan Elmore said she likely wouldn’t have completely encouraged her son to become a singer. But now, she said she sees it’s what he’s meant to do.

When it comes to his audience, she said, “the bigger, the better,” and he really doesn’t get nervous.

“He makes people happy,” she said.