A Tennis Star, Ready to Rock Santa Barbara's Beaches

Whiz Kid's Name/Age: William Thi, 17.

Whiz Kid's School: Eagle Rock High School.

Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Thi holds a 4.12 weighted GPA in his senior year at Eagle Rock High, while juggling his leadership in the Key Club and two hours of tennis a day on the side. He was recently accepted to the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is so excited that he's enrolling in the University's Freshman summer program after graduation. At ERHS he has taken seven AP classes, including both AP English offerings (English Language and English Literature), scoring between 3 and 5 on all his AP tests (the grading scales runs from 1-5, whereas 5 is the highest score possible and 3 is considered the last passing grade). That means he has gathered lots of college credit toward his pre-med degree already. He aced his hardest AP class, biology, in his sophomore year, although he will be taking the class again at college, as that's the bread and butter of his anticipated major. His leadership at Eagle Rock High has included involvement in the Associated Student Body, the school's student council, and his post as the commisioner of the financial comittee for the Key Club, a service organisation associated with the Kiwanis. As a member of the Varsity tennis team for the past three years, he and his co-captains led their team to the second place city-wide in their division, a first for the school. This is also is in his third year as a member of the school's concert choir, performing an ecletic repertoire ranging from Disney music to the national anthem of the Philippines.

Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: 
William Thi succeeds because of his efficient time management and his dedication to things he really cares about. In freshman year, he played five hours of tennis each day, and was rewarded with a spot on the Varsity team the year after.

Bonus Whiz Kid Info: Growing up, Thi was exposed to three languages: The Vietnamese his parents spoke with each other, the Chinese dialect in which members of the family conversed (Thi has an older brother, an ERHS alumnus, and younger sister in her sophomore year at the same school), and of course English at school. Thi's goal in life is to become a pediatrician, and he hopes to be able to stay in Santa Barbara to attend UCSB's medical school after completing his undergraduate years there.