Zach is a very intelligent young man, with a voracious appetite for reading and learning. While this is usually his greatest asset, at times it works against him. He is the oldest of four children and has many admirable achievements in his 13 years. However, many of these achievements came with little effort. This has causes Zach to continue testing the boundaries to find out how little effort he can put in and still receive accolades.
Zach’s story begins in the winter of 1995. His mother’s due date was on Super Bowl Sunday. Fortunately for his Dad, he did not arrive until the following weekend (Perhaps this was the beginning of Zach’s desire to procrastinate). He was the first child born to a young couple that had married only 15 months earlier. He was the center of their lives and received a great deal of undivided attention. That only lasted until the winter of 1998. Just one month before his third birthday a second son was born. Life would never be the same for Zach. Then, in the summer of 1999, his sister arrived. Life would REALLY never be the same. In the fall of 2002 another son was born. At the age of seven Zach became the oldest of four siblings and the expectation of setting a good example for the others began to be set.
At the age of three Zach started his school career in Colorado at a private Lutheran school. He remained there through first grade. During that time, his family built a house in a new neighborhood and moved in. He spent second through fourth grade in the public school just two blocks from their new house. By fifth grade, he needed more of an academic challenge and transferred to a charter school. The following year he attended the Connect charter school. During that year a change in employment required the family to relocate to Idaho. He attended Kuna Middle School for seventh grade and is back for eighth. To continue his academic challenge he has also decided to attend TVMS for part of the day. At each of these schools, Zach has made friends that he continues to keep in touch with today. The experience of changing environments should benefit him well in today’s work environment where people are expected to have several job changes during their careers. His success is a testimony to his ability to observe new situations and excel in them.
The downside to Zach’s ease of adapting is that it has taught him that with a little bit of observation he can identify the minimum required to be successful. He has also learned that homework which takes most of his peers two hours will only take him half an hour. That leaves him with an hour and a half to read or play video games before he has to focus. While most children are encouraged to read, Zach must be told to stop reading. He will stay up half the night if he is not monitored. His favorite book series is Harry Potter, but is also not afraid to pick up classics such as Animal Farm. Reading comes easily and provides new ideas of ways to be successful without trying too hard.
His high comprehension of what he reads is what allowed him to be successful at academics. In sixth grade he participated in the Science Olympiad genetics competition going up against seventh and eighth grade students. After taking second in the Southern Colorado competition, he took third place in the State level competition. Zach also has a passion for football. He played on junior teams, and is now playing is second year for the KMS team. His strength is in understanding the strategy of the game. Zach has also started to become more involved in the community. Last year he joined the Jr. Honor Society. This required him to think about what volunteer and leadership opportunities he has had. One leadership experience he had this summer was at an overnight camping event put on by his dad’s employer, AmeriBen. The camp is designed to give the employee’s children an opportunity to organize a company event. Zach was named president and was then responsible for assigning the other kids’ teams and schedule what the teams were responsible for. Additionally, he had to lead the campfire as if it were an employee meeting. He spoke in front of about 100 people and introduced each item on the agenda with confidence.
As you can see, Zach has had more experiences in his short 13 years than some people get until they are adults. The sky is the limit for how much more he can accomplish. His only limitation is to learn that eventually someone will challenge him beyond his abilities and the time to prepare is now.
NOTE: I thought about rambling on more just to see how close I could come to a million words, but I think I will stop here just short of a thousand (also because it is due tomorrow). If you wouldn’t mind reading this a thousand times, it will be close the million words asked for (I really don’t know where Zach gets his study habits – it must be from his mom). – Jim Negom
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