Whiz Kid Josh Straschewski: Actor, Surfer, Hurdler, Adrenaline Junkie

•Name: Josh Straschewski

•Age: 17

•School: Crescenta Valley High School, Senior

•Accomplishments: Josh was recently featured in an Adidas television commercial which aired during the MTV Music Awards. It was his prowess in hurdling for the CV High Track Team that got him the gig. “Thousands of athletes entered a photograph of their best game face. I was one of a couple dozen that were chosen,” explained Strashewski.

Strashewski has been steadily improving in his 300-meter and 110-meter hurdle races. During his senior year, Strashewski hopes to go beyond the CIF championships to compete at Masters and maybe State and Nationals.

During the summer, Josh stays in top shape by upping his time “shreddin' the gnar'" (translation: surfing, street longboarding, or anything that makes you say, “Woah, that just happened!”).

“I love the ocean,” he says. “I’ve been surfing ever since my dad took me out when I was about seven.  I go to Malibu whenever I have enough gas money.”

Strashewski also has a soft spot for acting. He recently played Cedric Diggory in the CVHS drama department’s production of A Very Potter Musical. “This musical is so much fun. The cast is hilarious,” says Straschewski, who is also on the school’s ComedySportz team.

“I’m a big fan of comedy. I like anything with Jim Carey.”  

Whiz Kid’s Key to Awesomeness:  Strashewski admits that facing an eight-foot wave, an expectant audience or a fierce track competitor all take guts. “I’m an adrenaline junkie,” he says. In pondering the common element among his three loves of surfing, acting and hurdling, he proffers with a smile, “You never know what the outcome will be. You have to evolve with the activity.”  

•Bonus Whiz Kid Info:  Strashewski hopes to balance an acting and a hurdling career, but his love of the ocean also draws him to a back-up career in marine biology. He is dedicated to his church, La Canada Presbyterian, where he occasionally plays drums in the band. He recently went with his church youth group to a surf camp in Ventura where he says he “communed with nature and got closer to God.”