From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We’re giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame.

This might be just a little bit embarrassing, but by way of introduction this week, I’d like to reprint the note this week’s featured player emailed us last December in response to a call-out for WoW-playing honors students. Its summary of achievements really can’t be beat.

Hello Lisa, I’m 17, and … I’ve played World of Warcraft since late Burning Crusade while maintaining a 91.2 GPA. I’ve even taken several Advanced Placement courses, which offer me college credit including world history, human geography, literature and composition, and physics.

In addition to completing multiple 10-man hard modes of Icecrown Citadel, I’ve taken on a lot of other responsibilities as a student. I’ve been a National Honors Society member for three years along with a member and co-captain of an award winning robotics program sponsored by FIRST. On top of that, I don a swimsuit after school for the varsity level swim team. I’ve played trombone throughout my years of WoW (nine years of the trombone total), playing in the school’s jazz band, symphonic band, symphonic orchestra, and marching band, in which I also hold the position of associate drum major. Just this year, I became one of the founding members of the Math Honors Society, in which I spend my mornings before school tutoring other students who just don’t quite understand the work. As another bit of school community service, I head over to the middle school as a co-coach, mentor, and former member of the FIRST Lego League robotics club/team.

Now, as if my schedule outside of World of Warcraft wasn’t busy enough, I’m a second-degree black belt who has studied martial arts for nearly 13 years while also teaching classes, aiding at seminars, and working with disabled/mentally impaired individuals. You’d think I’d have no time for anything at this point, but somehow I squeeze in another job cooking in a New York City restaurant. It’s more of an on-call basis, but I cook, wait tables, and assist in instructing cooking classes as well. For my summers, I will admit I do end up taking small breaks from WoW, but it’s allowed me to see the British Isles, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Egypt, and a decent amount of other countries/places. It’s also given me time to become a certified SCUBA diver who’s Rescue certified and qualified as an Emergency First Responder as well as picking up some International Yacht Training sailing certifications.

Oh, did I mention I have four 80′s and a 72?

Today, Kuhfleisch (Kirin Tor) is an 18-year-old freshman at Texas A&M University in Galveston. He’s still keeping up the grades, still keeping up the extracurriculars — and still keeping up World of Warcraft.

Continue reading 15 Minutes of Fame: Honors student hits the mark in WoW and life

Filed under: Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame

15 Minutes of Fame: Honors student hits the mark in WoW and life originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

WoW Insider