Los Gatos Patch Whiz Kid of the Week—Carly Houk

Carly Hoak, Age 17

School: Senior at

Accomplishments:

• Member of Los Gatos High School Jazz Purr (Performed at Carnegie Hall in April of 2010)
• Member of Vivace Youth Chorus of San Jose
• Loves photography
• Has a part-time babysitting job
• Part of the LGHS Speech and Debate team for the fall semester
• Lived in France as an exchange student for the 2010-11 school year with the nonprofit American Field Service (AFS) organization.
• Received a state-department funded scholarship to study abroad in Thailand next year under the Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad program sponsored by AFS.
• Will be attending Lewis and Clark College after the gap year

Key to Awesomeness:

In Carly's own words: "I try to get involved with whatever interests me. I don’t shy away from trying new things, even if it is out of my comfort zone. Some of my primary influences are from literature, actually. My English classes in the past few years have led me to think in new, more open-minded ways. But above all, I try to keep in mind the AFS motto, 'It’s not better, it’s not worse, it’s just different,' and everything in my life seems to make more sense."