Scholar of the Week

Kirk Varga of Richmond Community High School

by Janeal Downs

One of Kirk Varga’s passions in life started from one of his oldest hobbies, Legos. “Legos pushed my creativity to create hundreds of unique projects,” Kirk stated in an essay. “The main project I always was fascinated by was creating buildings and skyscrapers.” This hobby carried over into the game, Minecraft, and even carried over into his educational goals. Currently, Kirk’s main professional goal is to pursue a career in architecture.

Not only does he want to design buildings, but he also enjoys working with the environment and plans to build up the economy for future generations by using nature to create eco-friendly buildings. In fact, his work with the environmental club at his high school is one of his favorite things to do. Among many activities, he has helped with national parks, recycling at his school and also building an accessible bridge over a creek. His interest in the environment has also helped him gain the opportunity to intern at Yellowstone National Park this summer for a month. He will intern under the rangers while helping them conserve and preserve the area.

Not only does Kirk stay active with the environmental club, but he is also busy serving in the community. He currently has over 500 community service hours and was recently awarded for having the most at his school. He helps through the environmental club and also helps with giving back to the homeless. He also volunteers as a camp counselor at Camp Alkulana which he does for an entire week, a camp he has been going to since he was a young child. “It’s for city kids that never experienced camping before, overnight camping, and it’s just for people to enjoy nature,” Kirk said. While there were options to get paid, he decided to instead do it for community service hours so more money could go to the children. Through volunteer work, the main thing he has learned “is that the little things matter in life.”

Kirk was also a part of other organizations such as the National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America, Math Honor Society, Chess Club and more. With all of his extracurricular activities, he held a 4.2 GPA. One lesson he learned from high school and plans to take with him to college is “to do the second mile, not just walk your mile and then after that go home, to push yourself, push your limits, to be the best that you can.” Kirk is preparing to attend college at Virginia Commonwealth University. With plans of going into architectural engineering, VCU’s engineering program, his familiarity with the city, and the great reviews he has gotten from people he knows attracted him to VCU.

Kirk’s mother has always encouraged him to never do the minimum and always use his brain to be successful in the future. He plans to continue working hard in college and life. Not only did his mother and family constantly support and encourage him, but also his friends. “My friends at Richmond Community and also my neighbors and my friends I had in middle school, really pushed me when I was on the brink of giving up because I was working too hard,” Kirk said. Without these friends and also teachers and his counselor, Kirk said he couldn’t have done it without them. He wants to assure others that if they ever feel like giving up, they can do it if they put their mind to it, just like his friends always told him.