Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Christian Pascual

If you want to know where recent grad Christian Pascual got his drive from, you'd have to go back to when he was in middle school.

When he first learned about Capuchino's International Baccalaureate program as an eighth-grader, he was intrigued by the opportunity to take college-level courses in high school. But he was also a little anxious because he was told that IB students had no life outside of the classroom.

Pascual, 18, said he definitely started feeling the anxiety when he began taking his IB classes. But in his junior year, he was able to get over the pressure and enjoy his time in high school—both academically and socially.

"I had a life. I hung out after school. I played sports. And it never broke me down," he said about his demanding courseload.

He ended up graduating with a 5.0 grade point average and was named the co-salutatorian for this year's senior class.

That is why Christian Pascual is the Patch whiz kid of the week.

He's headed to UC Davis in the fall where he plans to major in biomedical engineering and minor in film.

What's his key to awesomeness?

"You've gotta keep humor in your life," he said.

During his classes, Pascual said, he would always be the one to make a joke or two. But it wasn't because he was the class clown, he said. It was to survive the stressful times when classes—and life—became tough.