Whiz Kid's Age: 17
Whiz Kid's School:
Whiz Kid's Accomplishment:
Andy is the second highest scoring member of the Franklin Academic Decathlon, which ranks fifth in the state and seventh in the nation. He will be competing in the state championship from March 11 to March 14.
He's also captain of the tennis team during the spring semester, a former captain of the junior varsity football team. He speaks Cantonese Chinese and understands Vietnamese.
Whiz Kid's Goal:
Andy wants to go to an Ivy League university, like Brown, Columbia or Yale, to study neuroscience.
Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness:
Andy has a passion for life. His secret to success, whether it is in sports or academics, is dedication. When he played sports, Andy’s priority was to be a great player. Andy decided to challenge himself academically by joining the school’s decathlon team. Since then, he's been spending up to 14 hours a day in school studying. But he enjoys taking a break–in fact, he says taking breaks can help students stay focused.
“It is so important to go home and relax. As I like to say, even professional athletes like to eat ice cream sometimes,” he said.
Andy’s wisdom is far beyond his age. He is not complacent, and that has kept him working hard to better himself. He was at the top of his game during his sophomore year as the captain of the junior varsity football team, but he decided to quit the team and to focus on academics.
“I started to appreciate knowledge and education more,” he said. “I was always an active and physical person, but I wanted to challenge myself. This has helped me to understand life a little more.”
