Whiz Kid: Alex Coco

Alex Coco, Junior, Danbury High School

 Alex Coco wants to be a rocket scientist, and according to his teachers, that will not be much of a reach for him. Coco has a 5.0 GPA and is his class Valedictorian. The key to his success? “It's more that I work hard than intelligence.”

 Coco's Chemistry teacher, Mike Chapman, begs to differ. “I have not ever seen a student with the thoroughness of his work. Most students, you have to twist their arm to see how their units, but Alex does it everytime.” Chapman took out Coco's AP exam, and said, “Look at this. Look at the bonus question, he made it to that. His work is elegant, as they say in math. His work is gorgeous, and on top of that, he is a really nice guy.”

 His talents do not end there. Coco also studies Spanish and Chinese. “My biggest strength is memorizing, and there are so many characters. I can read it better than I can speak it, but I have only been studying it for a year.”

 He was recently one of 30 students who were deemed Governor's Scholars and was invited to attend the Connecticut Association of Schools luncheon. Students were chosen for academics and leadership in their community. At the luncheon, Coco met many other scholars and was humbled by them. “Some kids have already taken Physics classes at Yale. It was really cool to see who I will be working with in the future.”

As part of DHS's Geography Bee, and their team came in third in the state.

 As a volunteer at his synagogue, Coco enjoys contributing at his Temple. He teaches there and on the high holy days, he reads from the torah at Temple Beth Elohim in Brewster.

Judy Coco, his mother, said that Alex showed his desire to travel when he was in Kindergarten, when he told his mother he wanted to go to every state capitol, and he has followed through on that quest. “ I have traveled 46 states and toured the capitol in 44 of them,” he said.

 Other extracurricular activities include his being the Captain of his swim team and a Senior Patrol Leader of Danbury's Boy Scout Troop 52. Alex was just invited to participate in the National Honor Society for English and the Humanities.