President of SkillsUSA, Captain of TJ’s Robotics Team, DECA member, NHS member, and active athlete in multiple sports: Cody Anderson is a classic renaissance man.
Anderson poses next to the Thomas Jefferson Facility, where he has thrived academically. Photo by Mateo Rocha
On April 5, 2012 Cody Anderson was honored for all that he does by being crowned a Mile High Scholar. To become a Scholar a student needs to receive teacher recommendations and they needed to have completed some community service. “I was really surprised when we got the letter saying I won; I had no idea I was up for the award,” Cody said with a giggle, but this scholar had humble beginnings.
On September 10, 1993 little Cody Anderson was born in Denver, Colorado. Not too long after, brother, Devin Anderson, accompanied Cody and completed the happy family of four.
The Anderson’s lived in Colorado but took trips around the world. When Cody was eight, he visited London and France for a family friend’s birthday. Even though he went to celebrate a birthday, Cody made a deeper connection and fell in love with a new culture. “It was really interesting to see the different perspectives in different countries. It was funny to see how they viewed Americans,” said Cody Anderson. He has also had the chance to go to Greece, the place of his dreams. When looking back at his experience here at Thomas Jefferson, Cody remembers this trip the most. Sophomore year, the chance to go to Greece came about and Cody jumped at the opportunity. “I have always wanted to visit Greece because I love Greek mythology. The trip was a dream come true because I got to go to the place where so many things originated. We visited Athens and we also took a cruise around the Greek Isle. The only bad thing about the trip was everyone left with a stomach bug and we all had to stay home for a little bit afterwards,” said Cody.
When Anderson wasn’t in another part of the world, he was very focused on sports. “I have played every sport at TJ except for football and lacrosse. The one sport that I ended up doing the most was swimming,” said Anderson. Being in the water was something that Cody said he loved and he has kept up with it to this day. Cody was three when he began swimming, and he eventually joined a swim team at the YMCA.
When Cody became too old for the YMCA swim team, he had to take a break from swimming because his middle school didn’t have a team. However, when Cody became a TJ Spartan, he was back in the game. “I loved being in the water and swimming was the perfect excuse. I joined the swim team at TJ and now I do the 200 meter breast stroke and 200 meter freestyle.”
Swimming isn’t the only sport to which Cody contributes; he is also part of the tennis team. Cody first picked up a racket sophomore year and he began to play a little bit. Once he started, Cody says he was able to pick it up quickly and he really liked it.
Besides being active in the sports community, Cody can be found in many different school clubs. The Robotics Club is a newer group here at TJ and Cody took the position as Captain. This is only the second year for the club and they had to start from the ground up. “Last year’s sponsor isn’t here anymore so it is like a fresh start,” said Cody. This club gives students a chance to build robots and take them to competitions. At the beginning of the year, a certain subject is released and then students build robots based on that.
After school on Wednesdays, Cody can be found with TJ’s Improv group, “Improvable” practicing skits. Improv is a type of comedy and it interested Cody because he says it is much like acting. “Ever since fifth grade I have been going to the Shakespeare Festival and I liked being on stage. I liked being able to step into someone else’s shoes and play their role.” The Bovine Metropolis Theater is where Improvable goes to perform in front of an audience.
If that isn’t enough, Cody also belongs to Distributive Education Clubs of America and National Honor Society. Being a part of NHS, a program were students perform community service, was a no-brainer for Cody because he already belonged to NHS when he was at Merrill. “I just expected to be in the National Honor Society since I was previously. I really enjoy giving back to the community,” said Cody.
Cody also enjoys designing websites and has landed himself the position of President of TJ’s SkillsUSA team. This is a club where students work on their computer and business skills for the future. The club is made up of roughly forty students. The group works on projects in various categories and prepares them for SkillsUSA competitions. “Cody is a great member to have for SkillsUSA. “He kind of just filled the position of president because he would help get the meetings going and organize our fundraisers. He helps spearhead a lot of our projects,” says SkillsUSA facilitator, Jerry Esparza.
Even though Cody likes acting, he would like his future to be behind the camera. Next year, Cody will become a student at CU Bolder and be a part of the Film Studies Program. “I like to act but I want to be able to make a movie and show people something they haven’t seen before, but in a good way.” Cody takes notes from other movies by watching as many as he can and writing reviews for the school newspaper. “I am highly opinionated so I like to be able to watch a movie and give my thoughts on it.”
Cody has played a major role in the TJ community but he has also affected other Spartans. “Cody has helped me a lot with my school work and he was a great friend to have when I was here at TJ,” says senior Maddi Doro.
Cody Anderson will be moving on to bigger and better things and hopefully someday, he will give us a great movie to watch. Jerry Esparza says he will miss having Cody as a student but has no doubt he will be successful. “If he stays focused, he can do anything he wants to. The key to being successful is hard work and I know Cody can do that, and I wish him the best.”
