Jeff Brown, 17

Why nominated:

“Jeff has been our neighbor for two years, ever since we moved to Colorado Springs from California,” said Robert and Gwen Robinson’s nomination letter. “He impressed us immediately with the willingness he showed in helping us feel welcome in our new area; his involvement with his family; and the compassion he shows for others. Jeff has had to assume an incredible amount of responsibility within his family, as his mother is ill, and he helps his father care for her. Just a few months ago Jeff earned his Eagle Scout award, the highest honor a Boy Scout can achieve. In school he is known as an athlete and a scholar, and he has future goals which we are confident he can achieve.”

During Jeff’s phone interview Sept. 11, he pointed out that the Robinsons’ appreciation isn’t one-sided.

“They’re great, too,” said the junior at Discovery Canyon Campus high school.

Q&A:

What do you do to help your mom and help around the house?

“The basic things: come home and sometimes I help her cook, do chores, take out the trash, do dishes. We have a garden — that’s the big thing is I do — a lot of yard work, so I go out there and pull weeds and stuff.”

What is your mom’s illness?

“Multiple sclerosis.”

How has that impacted your family?

“Well I’m the only kid, so there’s three of us, and the biggest thing is it’s brought us extremely close because most kids have the option to go out and do whatever they want all the time, so this has kind of forced us to be a family more than ever. … It’s made me grow up pretty fast, I’ll tell you that. Even though it’s a lot of hardship, it’s good for us.”

What was your project to earn your Eagle Scout status?

“I built seven benches for my church because I’m an aspiring engineer, so I designed the bench myself.”

What are your hobbies?

“My No. 1 hobby is off-roading. I love that with a passion. That’s what I’m actually in school for, honestly. The grades look good everywhere, but that’s what I’m trying to go for here.

“I work on a farm during the summer. I like to draw. I like to read magazines, but I’m not a big fan of books.”

What are your plans for after high school?

“I want to go to college, get a bachelor’s, maybe a master’s, I want to be a mechanical engineer, and my ultimate goal is to start my own off-road-fabrication shop.

“I started a notebook on Oct. 20 last year. I’ve been redesigning the suspension components on four-by-fours. When I’m off-roading and break something I kind of re-engineer it so it will be more flexible and capable for trucks. … I designed my own suspension. And I’ve been innovating since then. You learn a lot doing stuff like that.”

What services would your shop offer?

“Fabrication engineering. So, like I said, I would design this new suspension component, and I always like imagining taking four-by-fours and making them extremely sophisticated. I like making vehicles extremely capable. I want to take people’s vehicles and make them do things they never thought were possible.”

What kind of off-roader do you drive?

“I’ve got a Jeep Cherokee.”

Where do you off-road?

“Up in Monument, locally, but I’ll go wheeling out with my cousins on the farm, which is northeast of Brighton. I put a lift kit on it this summer, put a new bumper on it, for off-roading.”

What do you do on the farm?

“I drive combine harvesters and grain carts to pull behind the tractors. The most hours we work is we pull a couple of 16-hour days. But that’s not every day.”

Best subject in school

Math

Worst subject

“English, no doubt.”

What athletics are you involved in?

“I wrestle and play baseball. I’m actually a two-time state qualifier in wrestling.”

Favorite baseball team

Rockies

Anything else people should know about you?

“I do all right in school; my GPA is 4.4 right now. I’m hoping to pick that up.

“I’m el presidente of the school’s National Honor Society.”

Have you ever been to a Spanish-speaking country?

“No, but on a few vacations to the Southwest, it (speaking Spanish) has been convenient.”