Is it possible to memorize the entire periodic table? One hundred and eighteen elements, all with obscure names, and all in a seemingly random order (at least to the average human person). Nikolas Dillery, a junior here at CHS memorized this table at age eleven. 

This isn’t the only impressive thing about Nikolas Dillery. He is in six AP classes (lowest grade is a 97), plays on a soccer team, and also makes time to practice the cello every day. However, what separates Nikolas from the other extremely high achieving students at this school is the fact that he is entirely intrinsically motivated. He isn’t constantly thinking about where he will go to college, whether or not he can keep straight A’s, or how many more times he is going to take the SAT. In fact, in freshman year, Nikolas chose to take World History 1 instead of AP Human Geography even though he knew it could potentially set him back a step on the path to highly selective universities. “I was just more interested in the topic,” he said. While most AP Calculus students cringe at the sight of a new, foreign language-like topic, Nikolas lights up for the prospect of a new challenge. 

As mentioned above, Nikolas isn’t a one trick pony. He is also balancing out his academics with his cello and his soccer team, as well as being ranked one of the top 100 Age of Mythology players in the world! In fact, his team just won the Sunburn Tournament, the Charlottesville-wide recreational tournament. “He is really committed, shows up to every practice, and is a consistent starter,” said his teammate Kiran Klubok-Shukla. “He always gets his foot on the ball, but he is scared of headers.” Kiran continues. Nikolas admits this, saying, “I don’t want to damage my cranium.” Nikolas also just won the KTR’s best dressed contest by a landslide of 100 plus votes. 

The greatest thing about Nikolas Dillery, however, is not his stylish corduroys and colorful sweaters. The best thing about him is that he is always a helping hand to anyone that needs one. “He is definitely the first person to help out when I have a problem in Calculus that I can’t solve,” said junior, Sabrina Hendricks. Nikolas is a representation of what education should be, and what it is unfortunately slipping farther and farther away from – not a swamp filled with hyper competitive parents and overly stressed children, but a place filled with kids who have a passion to learn solely for the purpose of learning. So thank you, Nikolas.