Will Carter is a hard working Spartan who demonstrates his good qualities both inside an outside of school.
photo by Rebecca Holt
Have you ever thought about what a great student athlete would be like? Well this Spartan does it all, balancing his schoolwork, competing in three school sports, and performing public service acts for his community. William “Will” Carter is the man who embodies the ideal Spartan model.
Will participates in the Kappa Alpha Psi Leadership Program (known as the Kappa League), which is a citywide program for the educational, occupational and social guidance of male high school students. It is designed to help young men grow and develop their leadership skills in every phase of human endeavor. The young men in this program are selected because they are at the top of their classes and highly involved in various community service activities within high schools in the Denver-Metro area. Will was recently an escort for the Kappa’s Annual Scholarship Program. As an escort Will had the opportunity to escort a senior in the program to the dais and introduce that person to the audience. The scholarship is for seniors in high school who have completed the Kappa Program. “It was cool because I know that next year somebody will escort me, and I am honored to be a part of this program,” said Will.
At TJ, Will has been enrolled in the Computer Magnet Program since his freshman year. He has been participating in 3D Animation with Jerry Esparza for two years now. “It’s a lot of fun and I like it because we learn how to make animated characters, and because of this program I am looking into pursuing a career as a graphic designer,” said Will, who added that he thinks the 3D animation is amazing. Will’s favorite assignment in Esparza’s class was during his sophomore year when his final project was to design a cabin, and he had to make a video in order to sell it. The project took three weeks to complete, and it was Will’s favorite because he said that he had done the best on that assignment in the class. “The project was a lot of fun because we could design the cabin how we wanted to and express our personalities the way we wanted to,” said Will.
Will also takes accelerated classes at TJ, such as Spanish 3X, with Kyler Jackson, Physics X with Nelson Vore, and AP Government with Jon Poole. “Those classes are challenging, but they are helping me to prepare for college,” said Will, who is receiving nothing but A’s and B’s in those classes.
Will competes in track, football, and basketball at TJ, and out of the three different sports his favorite is track, where he does the long jump, triple jump, 4-1 relay, and the open 100m. Will had an opportunity to qualify for state his sophomore year, but pulled his groin while practicing for the triple jump before one of his meets, making him miss two months. “I felt bad because I couldn’t support my teammates and it was hard to just sit and watch,” said Will, who would have been a part of the 4-1 state team. Even though Will missed out on state competitions, he was able to accompany the TJ track team to Florida State University. “It was a fun experience to see different track stars from around the country,” said Will. When he wasn’t competing he was exploring the malls and running around local parks to help him to stay in shape.
Will puts the same time and effort into football and basketball as he does in track by participating in various football and basketball camps over the summer. Last summer, Will participated in a football camp at Grambling State University, which is home of the 2009 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) National Champions. “There were athletes from all over the country, and it was fun to see how good everybody was from the different states,” said Will. From the camp he learned more football knowledge and became a better overall football player as a result of the drills and teachings of the coaches at Grambling State University. “When we weren’t playing we were mainly watching movies and hearing speeches from the coaching staff. On the last day, we had a dance, which was a lot of fun,” said Will, who also participated in the summer basketball league, Become A Ball Champion, which was played at the University of Northern Colorado. “It was a lot of fun, and it definitely helped me develope my basketball skills. They worked on my shot, and that helped me to lead my team with scoring, and we had a winning record,” said Will.
Outside of school Will has participated in the Fifth Annual Economic Summit & Expo’s Youth Apprentice Contest, which featured Dr. Randal Pinkett, motivational speaker, author, and season-four winner of NBC’s The Apprentice with Donald Trump. “They would give us one question per day and you would have the whole day to figure it out,” said Will, who explained that one of the questions asked in the program was how can we stop teens from dropping out of high school. “We would look at statistics as to why students are dropping out of high school and build on that,” said Will.
Will has accepted a position tutoring at risk kids with a local youth program, where he will be expected to help kids with any school subjects with which they are struggling. “I am excited about helping kids, because I want to help them become better leaders and teach them about real life experiences that they may encounter when they’re older,” said Will.
Recently, Will participated in the ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) Walk-A-Thon at Denver’s City Park. The walk is a way to help raise money for the cure of ALS. “It felt good to help support people with ALS. I felt proud because I was out there with a purpose,” said Will, who also knows somebody with ALS, and also intends on going to Kaiser Permanente in November to help people who are suffering from the flu. Will is also assisting his grandfather with his rehabilitation from knee replacement surgery. “Since he is struggling to walk, I help him with his way around the house and get things that he needs,” said Will
After high school, Will wants to attend the University of Southern California (USC) and major in computer science and compete in track. “I just want the opportunity to get away from Colorado and experience new things in life,” said Will, who added that when he finishes college he hope to become a graphic designer. “The computer magnet program has really helped me in deciding that profession, because I do similar things already and I’m good at it,” said Will.
