Westmont High School's Kyle Stratton Gets Excited About Calculus

's Kyle Stratton is one smart cookie.

He's one of this year's valedictorians, is being recognized for being an AP Scholar with Distinction and also a finalist for the National Merit.

Outside of school, he volunteers at the , there he helps organize and run teen programs.

He was also part of the Rocketry Club and participated in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, sophomore, junior and senior year, he was qualified in the top 100 and was able to attend the national fly offs near Washington D.C.

This is part of a series of high school graduation stories that will run throughout the week, highlighting high school seniors at the various school sites and their stories.

All the schools within the district are holding their graduation ceremonies on Thursday, June 9.

This is Kyle Stratton's story.

Campbell Patch: How are you feeling?

Kyle Stratton: Pretty well. Fairly excited about graduation and the end of a really interesting four years of high school and 12 years of education. Pretty excited and ready to go to college in the fall.

Patch: What will you miss most?

Kyle: A lot of really good friends. Some will go to the same college as me but the vast majority are going to other schools. I've known some of them since elementary school and others since middle school.

Patch: What will you miss least?

Kyle: Probably the homework because I know I will be getting plenty of it in college but probably not as many assignments, just more detailed.

Patch: What are you looking forward to?

 Kyle: Looking forward to be able to further explore what I'm interested in: math, computer science and stuff. Really figure out what I want to do in the future

Patch: Who inspires you?

Kyle: A lot of really inspiring teachers. My AP Calculus BC teacher Mrs. Lawson. I really enjoyed that class.

Patch: What teacher made an impact in your life?

Kyle: I had physics with Mr. Taylor and also part of the Rocketry Club. Really fun. Especially second year. Pretty unique. Small tight knit class. Learn beyond what's taught in the class.

Patch: What college are you planning on attending?

Kyle: UCLA. My top choice was MIT, but it was really between UCLA and UC Berkeley. I visited UCLA and it was personal. I met a lot of cool people.

Patch: Are you the first to go to college in your family?

Kyle: My parents both went to college. This year, myself, brother and sister are all going to separate colleges.

Patch: What was your favorite high school memory?

Kyle: One that sticks out is freshman year. I did cross country with my friends and we got lost.What would have been a short run turned into almost a half marathon with us trying to find our way back to school.

Patch: What was your most difficult high school challenge?

Kyle: Since I have two siblings who have been going through this, I have to become more independent so that my parents wouldn't have to be so divided in helping us.

Patch: What was your favorite class?

Kyle: BC Calculus class was really fun. The material was really interested and I had a lot of friends in it. The teacher was really excellent.

Patch: What was your least favorite class?

Kyle: I didn't really enjoy US History as much. I had some friends in the class but we were pretty spread out. I'm not too interested in history, except more modern history.

Patch: Any plans after graduation?

Kyle: I'm going to try to get a job. It'll help defer some of the costs. Probably try to spend some time with my friends since it'll be a while before we hung out again.

Patch: Why is it important, to you, to go to college?

Kyle: For me, the main thing is to keep my options open. So much you can explore in college and find out what you want to do.

If you don't, you're stuck doing whatever it was after you finished high school.