Whiz Kid: Evan Marymee Qualifies for State Honors Choir

Every week, Patch spotlights young people in the West Bloomfield community who are successful, talented and just plain awesome. We're pleased to introduce this week's Whiz Kid:

Evan Marymee

• Age: 16 (17 on Dec. 23!)
• School:
• Achievement: Evan qualified for the Michigan School Vocal Music Association (MSVMA) Soprano, Tenor, Alto, Bass (SATB) State Honors Choir after a successful audition Dec. 3 at Ann Arbor Pioneer High School. Evan was one of two Lakers to qualify of the four WBHS students who auditioned. Evan is a two-time member of the selective group, which will perform this year at the Michigan Music Conference on Jan. 20. At he received a Star Certificate from Superintendent JoAnn Andrees.
• Key to awesomeness: Evan is a hard worker, said mother Carla, of West Bloomfield. He practiced singing 40 hours a week for two months prior to his audition and was thrilled to receive the honor. "The most challenging part (of auditions) was competing with over 100 kids," he said.
  
  Evan, who has Asperger's syndrome, has had to work extra hard throughout his life to be able to do what he loves most. "It's a miracle that he's come this far," Carla Marymee said. "He never listened to the so-called experts who said he couldn't do this and that. He's worked very hard through the years to overcome (Asperger's syndrome) and it's all paid off. I hope that people can take from him that anything is possible."
  
  Evan is also a 3.8 GPA student who was recently inducted into the National Honor Society. He would like to study music at the University of Michigan upon graduation, and eventually receive a teaching certificate. In his spare time, he performs with the choir of in Farmington Hills.

Do you know a special young person in the community who deserves a round of applause because he volunteers instead of playing video games after school? Or maybe your daughter's science club is trying to challenge the way we think about the energy crisis? Or maybe your son's lacrosse team won its first game in three years? Everyone deserves a little attention, and we want to tell these stories.

So email your Whiz Kid nominations to Editor Tim Rath at Tim.Rath@Patch.com. Please include the name, age, school, achievement and key to awesomeness, as well as a photo. Then come back every week for our Whiz Kid spotlight; you never know who will be up next.