This week’s Wendy’s of Santa Clarita and SCVTV Student Athlete of the Week is Niko Lachman of Valencia.  Niko has a 4.18 GPA and scored 2140 on the SATs.  He is quick to admit that he is a math and science guy.

“I like physics and calculus,” Niko said.  “Engineering is interesting.  So probably electrical engineering is what I was thinking.”

USC, Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo and UC-Santa Barbara are the three schools he is most interested in attending.  He would like to stay in California and he would also like to play football in college.  But if the gridiron is not in the cards, he does have a preference.

“If I’m not going to play football (then it’s) UCSB right now because it’s right next to my whole family and right next to the beach, and it’s a good engineering program.  So that’s really interesting to me.”

The 6-2, 270-pound lineman, who is out with a broken arm, doesn’t necessarily know what he wants to do for a career, but he knows the principles of engineering interests him.

“The applications… the formulas, the real-world applications of all of them, how they all apply, how they don’t fail,” he said.

Niko has an odd study schedule.  Because he is more often tired after football practice than not, he likes to go to bed early, say 8 p.m. or 9 p.m., and get up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m.  That works for him because, as he says, his mind is fresher in the morning.  So the question becomes, can anyone get good grades?

“Yeah,” he said.  “I mean, you have to be able to come home and do your homework right away if you’re not going to get up early in the morning to do it.”

His parents emphasized good studies, but for Niko, doing well in the classroom starts with him.

“My parents have always told me that good grades will be really important,” Niko said.  “I’ve always expected to get A’s and even when I started to get a couple B’s I was trying to get A’s.  It was just something that’s always been part of what I am.”

Congratulations to Niko Lachman of Valencia High School, the Wendy’s of Santa Clarita and SCVTV Student Athlete of the Week.