Whiz Kid: Athlete Achieves Silver Honor Roll

This week's Whiz Kid is Nick Gastreich, a fifth grader at Beasley Elementary School and a Silver Honor Roll student. Do you know a great kid? Email sarah.flagg@patch.com.

Name: Nick Gastreich

Age: 10

School: 

Year in school: Fifth grade

Accomplishment: Nick is a Silver Honor Roll Student who plays three sports.

Key to Awesomeness: There is no doubt that Nick Gastreich has a passion for sports. He plays soccer, baseball and runs cross country at Beasley Elementary School. He has won awards and trophies, his latest being a fourth place trophy at an all-school cross country meet in September.

Nick is also an excellent student. One of his favorite subjects is social studies.

“I enjoy learning about history. My teacher, Miss Woodrome, is very nice and caring. She makes it fun and interesting,” he said. “Right now I am working on a science project about biomes. My biome is rivers. I will be making a poster about what life forms are found in rivers and facts about all different rivers.”

An avid reader, Nick recommends, I Survived the Shark Attacks of 1916 by Lauren Tarshis.

“It’s very exciting, like a movie in your head,” he said.

Nick is a member of the Generous Jaguars at Beasley. He has worked on projects involving making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless and making blankets for kids in hospitals.

A highlight of Nick’s summer was a family vacation to St. Petersburg, FL. “We swam in the ocean and played on the beach. We also visited the stadium of the Tampa Bay Rays, Tropicana Field,” Nick said.

Nick has two golden retrievers to help care for at home, Niola and Goldie. He has taught them two tricks so far, to sit and to lay down on command.