ARLINGTON — Bryan Veary, 18, is a second-year senior at Weston High School. The oldest of five kids, he’s a hands-on learner who likes to create and fix things in his spare time. He fell behind academically after failing classes during his first couple years of high school but decided to turn things around. He’s now earning all A’s and B’s and took a summer class to get ahead so he can finish high school this winter.
Question: What kinds of activities do you do in school or as hobbies?
Answer: In school, mainly I just try to stay on top of my classes and get through to graduating because I’ve got a semester left of high school. Other than that, at home basically I like to work on stuff. I’m a hands-on learner. I like to tear stuff apart. I like to build things.
Q: What are some of the projects you’ve done?
A: My main hobby is I’m into hopping up lawnmowers. A buddy of mine got me hooked on it. I ended up doing a little bit of stuff with my dad here and there. Then I started collecting lawnmowers and then got rid of them and now I’m in the process of restoring an older lawn tractor.
Q: What kind of work do you do on the lawnmowers?
A: Mainly when I first get them, before I start doing anything on them, I figure out what’s missing and fix whatever’s needed on there. And then after I got the majority of those things done I’d start modifying the frame.
Q: Do you do it for fun or have you sold a couple?
A: I sold a couple to my buddies but that’s about it. I had most of them at home but then I had to start cleaning them up because I had too many.
Q: What else do you do in your down time?
A: I’ve always been really into mountain biking. My favorite place is probably Devil’s Gulch over in Wenatchee. I was in scouts when I moved up here through my dad’s church, and trip after trip we would go mountain biking. Eventually I got my own mountain bike and just about every day I was out there riding my bike.
Q: What has your experience in high school been like?
A: It was rough at first. I had some family issues prior to coming here, in middle school. Then coming (to Weston) it was a bit more remote and quieter and there’s a lot more one-on-one with the teachers … I had a pretty rough attitude at the time and I didn’t think it was the best spot for me up at the high school, plus my grades were kind of poor.
Q: What are your grades looking like now?
A: A’s and B’s. It definitely progressed. It was around my junior year that my grades started picking up. I was at F’s and D’s and then I gradually started to pick it up.
Q: What made you decide to push through and do the extra semester this year?
A: Last year they gave me the option of pushing through and getting everything done and trying to cram it in, but I said, you know, I’m not in a rush. I’m graduating when I’m graduating. Big deal if it’s another semester. I think the only thing that got me ahead was doing summer school this last summer and I got a credit for finishing a year’s worth of U.S. history.
Q: What are some of your favorite subjects?
A: I’d have to say history and then probably science.
Q: Have you decided what you want to do after high school?
A: I’ve got a few ideas but I’m not bouncing off them right away. One would be going after a license to be a heavy equipment operator, or pursuing that, anyway. I was thinking about going to school for that or getting into maybe auto tech or diesel mechanics. Those are a few things I thought about.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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