Story and photos by Isabella Sepahban
Will Rhody, a senior at Anderson County High School, is a star student.
A captain of his football team, Rhody is regarded as one of the best players on the team.
“He is an elite person,” said David Buchanan, Rhody’s football coach. “He really excels in all the things he does, whether it’s the classroom, on the field, but I think probably the area he’s the most elite is his character.”
Buchanan explained that he’s never coached anyone who is as kind and respectful as Rhody.
“The way he interacts with others, the way he treats others,” Buchanan said. “I would say that what he does on the field and what he does in the classroom is really a reflection of who he is as a person.”
Besides his involvement on the high school’s football team, Rhody is also an All-A student.
Rhody’s father, Monty, is a civil engineer. Rhody’s older brother Jack, a student at Western Kentucky University, is currently studying civil engineering with the hopes of becoming one as well.
Because of this, Rhody says he has been raised to care deeply about his academics.
Rhody, who also plans on going to WKU after graduating to study civil engineering, says that math and science has always come easily to him.
“I’m a math and science guy,” Rhody said. “English is not my thing.”
Besides the long study hours Rhody deals with every week, he also attends football practice four times a week, and has a football game every Friday during the fall semester.
To add on even more, Rhody spends his free time doing as many activities as possible, from practicing disc golf with friends, to attending photo shoots for his senior pictures, to even assisting his father in land surveying.
Currently, Rhody is only able to help his father with surveys once or twice a week due to his busy schedule with football, amongst other things.
Rhody says that he plans on doing even more land surveys for his father as a side-job once the football season ends.
While some would look at Rhody’s schedule and faint from exhaustion, Rhody says that his routine-like schedule is completely manageable and stress-free.
“It doesn’t seem like that much to me, I don’t know,” Rhody said. “Like I’ve always done football…it’s more of a routine, it’s something I’m going to do every day, no matter what.”
However, life for Rhody isn’t all work and no games- sometimes he gets the chance to go out and celebrate special occasions with friends or go to parties and get the chance to be a real American teenager.
Rhody’s favorite thing to do with his friends is go camping.
“I really like camping, like I like watching these videos of people on YouTube just going out in the middle of nowhere…and just, survive,” Rhody said. “I just wanna go out in the middle of nowhere and like, camp and stay for three days, and just live off the land.”
Rhody has high hopes for his future, and he is guaranteed to reach even higher than he thinks he can.
Those close to Rhody, like his football coach, also believe he fully has the potential to succeed in whatever he sets out to do.
“Will would be a slam dunk ivy-league football player,” Buchanan said. “If he wanted to be president… Will Rhody would be a phenomenal president.”