The chamber gave Alex Dzurick the youth award for community service, an award that was certainly deserved. He's done more in 18 years than many do in a lifetime: student council president; Missouri Scholars Academy; all-state quiz bowl team; the Art League; the Lion's Club; the YMCA youth leadership program, and the list goes on.

"I didn't see a reason not to get involved," Alex said. "Try it, and I ended up liking everything so I never stopped."

He did it all while perfecting calculus.

"It raises expectations for everybody," his principal Troy Clawson said. "We try to do the best to educate all of our kids, and Alex puts us to the test sometimes."

Speaking of tests, Alex isn't too bad at them, and his classmates know it.

"We do an SAT question of the day, and if they're not sure they'll look over and say 'Alex,'" composition teacher Beth Baysinger said.

Still, he's careful to not dominate the classroom.

"If he didn't want to answer in class, he'd wait. Like 'I'm waiting, I'm waiting' no one else is answering and then he'll go like this," Baysinger said as she slowly raised her hand.

Alex recalls his chances at the 75th annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.

"I'm twelve and I'm competing on stage nationally. It was awesome," Alex said. "I ended up getting knocked out in the third round, I misspelled gesundheit."

Misspelling the word: g-e-i-s-u-n-d-h-e-i-t was one of the very few academic milestone he's set for himself without reaching.

"I'd love to have a 36 on the act, I was one point away," he said.

One point away from a perfect score, but Alex is number one in his class, and most students don't even try to compete with him.

"Its kind of hard to be competitive with that guy, honestly," senior Phillip Collins said. "I won't compete with him in college."

Still, Alex isn't just about school, he does a lot for others.

"We had a teacher killed in a car wreck, and he's been involved in the dodge ball tournament to raise money for a scholarship for her," said his guidance counselor Gary Bonsall.

On top of it all of this, he's humble.

"This is hard interviewing right now. I didn't want to brag about myself," Alex said.

So everyone else will have to do the bragging for him.

"If you spoke with him, you wouldn't have any idea that he's got the list of accomplishments under his belt that he has," Bonsall said.

It's safe to say this is one kid whose resume will never fit on one page. Alex received word this week that he's a national merit finalist. He plans to attend the University of Missouri in the fall. 

Alex has never received a "B" in anything. He has, however, gotten one "A-"... It was in Physical Education.