If you happen to be at Wright City High School any weeknight, chances are you might run into Tyler Eads.

The senior is a percussionist in the high school band and a member of the Robotics Club and Scholar Bowl. He also serves as president of the Future Business Leaders of America.

To say he is busy might be an understatement.

“Pretty much every day but Friday I'm here after school,” Eads quipped.

He has been an integral part of the Robotics Club's success since its inception. In the past three years, the team has completed at the state competition twice. This year he hopes to lead the program to its third berth.

“It's fun for me to be able to build stuff,” Eads said.

Eads has already been accepted at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla where he will major in engineering. Prior to that, he may complete some general education classes at St. Charles Community College this summer to get a jump-start on college.

“I would rather spend less time in school,” Eads said. “Instead of spending six, seven years, it could be four or five.”

Who has been the biggest influence in your life and why?

“Probably my brother, Joey. Me and him are quite a bit a like. We have a lot of the same interests and we bounce ideas off each other. We always like to be better than the other person so we make each other excel in different.”

If you could change one thing about high school, what would it be?

“I would have tried a lot harder my sophomore year. Sophomore year was my lowest GP of the four. Collectively, it is making it lower now. I was hoping to get it up to a 3.5, but I found out I can't.”

If you won $1 million, what would you do with the money?

“I would pay for my schooling first, so I don't have to worry about that. I would give some of it to my mom and let her get a nicer house. I don't really know. I would probably put the rest of it in savings. I would want to put it back and have it when I'm out in the (real) world.”

What advice would you pass along to underclassmen?

“Don't blow it off. I am a very bad procrastinator. I have admitted it to myself and I still am. It is something I wished I stopped my freshman year. Waiting until the last minute is not the best, especially when you get it up to the higher grade levels. The jump between freshman and sophomore years is a bigger jump than you think it is. It's a big jump there.”

Favorite class:“Mr. Schwartz.”

Favorite teacher: “Calculus or Principles of Engineering.”

Favorite food: “Pizza.”

Favorite movie: “The Prestige.”

Favorite TV show: “Person of Interest.”

—Compiled by Tim Schmidt, Record Managing Editor