Los Gatos Patch Whiz Kid of the Week—Joey Robinson

Joey Robinson, Age 17

School: Junior at

Accomplishments:

• Straight A student
• Webmaster for El Gato, the school newspaper for Los Gatos High School.
• Will be editor-in-chief next year
• Works after school at Roving Networks, a local networking company
• Aspiring aerospace engineer
• Accomplished outdoorsman who has hiked the Inca Trail in Peru

Key to Awesomeness:

Joey is a character whose occasionally acerbic nature masks a heart of gold, says proud father Bert Robinson.

"He is generous with his money and his time. He has a well-developed and often cutting sense of humor," he notes, adding that he learned this about Joey when he was 4 years old and they were watching birds build a nest.

He says he asked Joey if he thought the mommy and daddy birds would soon bring food to the baby birds. "Only the mommy bird," he replied.

"What does the daddy bird do?" dad says he asked Joey. "Mostly, he reads the newspaper," he responded.

"Joey has a very logical mind, which makes him good at making arguments, occasionally to his parents' chagrin. He regales his classmates with columns in El Gato in which he explores such burning topics as 'Why won't students park their cars in marked spaces?' " dad says.

His favorite cartoon character is the misanthropic rat, Rat, in Pearls Before Swine, whose adventures he reads every morning over breakfast, dad adds.

Joey is also devoted to his pets—his cat Pixel and his dog Clark. He is a big music fan whose favorite bands are Portishead, Massive Attack, the Knife, the White Stripes and Radiohead, according to dad.