WHIZ KID OF THE WEEK: Austin B. Groom III

Whiz Kid's Name: Austin B. Groom III

Whiz Kid's Age: 13

Whiz Kid's School: Pikesville Middle School

Whiz Kid's Accomplishment: Winning the 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. Content of Character award.

Whiz Kid's Key to Awesomeness: Extensive community service.

Austin Groom B. III is an eighth-grade student at Pikesville Middle School who stays very busy outside the classroom. And that's the main reason he won Baltimore County’s 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. Content of Character award earlier this year.

Guidance Counselor Lois Rothberg nominated Austin for the award because he has posted more than 125 community service hours, doing a variety of projects since elementary school.

Those projects include working as a student mentor, reading to children during the summer in the library, and working at a soup kitchen.

In addition, he’s in junior deacon training at his church and plays on the Reisterstown Mustangs recreation football team. “He stays very busy,” said his father, Austin B. Groom, Jr.  Austin's mom is Marlene Groom.

Austin earned the award in January, during a ceremony at the Antioch Baptist Church in Randallstown. The award is signed by County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, and Austin was one of only two Baltimore County students to win it. 

To Austin, being picked for the award was a big honor. 

“I liked it because my guidance counselor saw how much I was doing and [nominated] me for the award,” said Austin. “I enjoy doing [different things] because I see people from all different walks of life. ... It means a lot because it shows that all of my accomplishments meant something."