When someone imagines life of ordinary American teenager, who do they think of? From the surface, Logan Kelchner, who was born in the United States, looks like the perfect example of the ordinary American teenager. He likes to hang out with friends, hitting up parties, making jokes, etc. But as we all know, one cannot be judged by the surface. Therefore, as one looks deeper inside of his life, one would find it surprising that Logan’s life isn’t so ordinary.
Logan Kelchner was born on March 7, 1990 from town called Winchester, VA. Winchester used to be small town. But as Logan grew town grew big also. As Logan recalls “It (Winchester) wasn't (big) when I was young, but it's started to grow, and has grown to be one of the biggest cities in Virginia.” Winchester is a big part of Logan’s life. Partly because he was born there and lived there whole life and partly because his dad is an important figure of the town, where he is a minister of the United Methodist church.
This church, known as Round Hill Methodist Church, is a big part of Logan’s life. Because Logan’s dad is minister, he taught Logan Christian values since when he was a young age. Most important value that Logan’s dad emphasized was “trust in the Lord that everything will work out.” However, he thought while trust in the Lord Logan needs to “work hard for any success that may come by” which meant “studying hard” for him.
Logan is grateful for his dad for teaching this value because “he was good about keeping me in line, and is a huge reason I’m here today in college (Virginia Tech) and not at the local Seven Eleven.” Logan is proud of his accomplishment that he got into Virginia Tech and he considers this to be the greatest accomplishment of his life.
Another essential Christian value that Logan's father taught him was to “treat others how you would prefer to be treated. Lend a helping hand whenever possible, and whenever possible, lend two”. Because of this, he has volunteered to help those in need. Logan has done lots of volunteer work but main volunteer work he did was for hurricane relief.
Led by his youth group leader, Kristen Bloodworth, Logan and his youth group visited Elizabeth City, North Carolina in 2006 with hopes of helping out those affected by Hurricane Katrina. The following year, that same youth group drove to the southern coast of Alabama to help those people as well. Logan's youth leader, Kristen Bloodworth, evaluated his work in saying "Logan did all that he could to help the misfortunate, and by the end of each mission trip, that was very evident with result.”
However, Logan is not just a book worm or downright religious man either. He knows how to have good time as his friend, Derek, describes him as a “fungi” (or fun guy) because his jokes never get too old like fungi. When he was asked what he and Logan like to do in the spare time, he said “whatever we (Derek and Logan) feel like doing”. He goes on little further and said this “whatever feel like” includes “playing volleyball, grabbing some food, or hitting up a party. Every time is a good time with Logan.”
So Logan likes to play volleyball, grabbing some food, or hitting up a party in his free time with friends. But what is his favorite thing to do? When Logan was asked what his favorite hobby is he said “I’m a big fan of soccer. I have played soccer since I was about 8 (1998), and just recently stopped after my senior year. I am thinking about joining an intramural league”. It was clear that with all those past time enjoyment, soccer was his favorite. Even though he played soccer since he was eight, his talent for soccer showed off during his high school year. Coaches put him in midfield during his varsity years because he “(I) was blessed with endurance. So my coaches would make me play just about every minute of every game, at the position which demands the most out of you (more specifically, Right Midfielder)”. A Midfielder’s job is not flashy but he still got his job done. He ended up with 6 goals and 5 assists during his senior year.
Aside from soccer, Logan has another favorite hobby: Music. He admits that he has absolutely no talent in music but he loves music nonetheless. He doesn’t prefer one kind of music another because “I love just about every of music and everything about it”. Maybe this is reason that “music has always been a constant in my life, not matter the circumstances”. Whether he is sad, happy, angry, or inspired, there is always a song that fits his specific mood. For example, he listens to rap when he feels like he wants to dance. He listens to Kenny G when he wants to relax. His favorable musicians differ based on his mood. However, for the most part, he is “a mellow guy who’s into mellow music” as his friend, Derek, states.
This love for mellow music inspired Logan to have experience of his life time which was going to John Mayor’s concert. He was lucky enough to go to one of John Mayer’s concert this summer at Merriweather Post Pavilion, in Maryland. He describes this experience as “(even though) it poured the entire time but it was still one of the best nights of my life”.
All these things make him misses his past life, but he finds new life in Virginia Tech. He says he is “in love with Blacksburg”. He was worried that it might be too big but despite his concerns, it only took him a day to adapt in this environment. He says “the people are great here, the campus is great, the school work… isn’t great, but other than that, it is all good”. He looked like he misses his old life style in Winchester but he is ready to move on to new environment in Blacksburg.
Nonetheless, his life is not quite ordinary. In fact, it was quite opposite of ordinary. As one looked closely in his life, one can conclude that he has experience that nobody else has experienced in their life time. Although he shares many common interests with “regular” teenagers, his life experience shows that he is ready to move on, not just as an extra ordinary teenager but become a real college student.
--by Sungbin Ma
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