Joseph A. Callahan is a young man who is impressive to many instructors in high school and in community college. He is a high school senior, graduating this semester, but he has been taking courses at community Colleges for several years and makes A's in all of them. Joseph Callahan has a full high school load and a sizable college load. And he is an unpretentious student. He neither vaunts his knowledge nor acquiesces to youthful calls to ignorance. He is unusually intelligent and mature for his age. Already accepted into UC Berkeley, he will start next semester.

Joseph A. Callahan was born seventeen years ago in Pleasanton, California, and he still lives with his parents. He is the younger of two sons--an older brother is already studying at UC Berkeley. His mother is a trained nurse and his father is a carpenter. Joseph attends Foothill High School in Pleasanton. Gibbs asked this young rising star about his success in school, his study habits, his home and social life, and his maturity.

[This interview is not written as a Q & A interview, but rather as his thoughts on various subjects.]

Foothill High School:
I guess my success has be be attributed to my parents who have stressed the need for school, and especially my mother who has helped me in my studies a great deal. Also, my brother has helped be a lot as well. Over the years, my father stressed the need for work, and school is a form of work. But even when there was no school, my father used to get my brother and me up to work. So I have learned about hard work and persistence from him.

My study habits have varied in school: in eighth grade, things were relatively easy so I could study one or two hours and make good grades; in high school, I started taking honors courses, so things got harder, and I had to study more. So my studies went from 2-4 or 5-hours. There are some people I know who just breezed through courses without all this study, but that's them. For me it was harder, so I studied more.

Foothill school in Pleasanton is a public school, and it has about 1,500 students. I guess that's big; it is growing. It is not too racially diverse, however: there are under 20 Black students, a hand full Middle Eastern kids, mostly Asians and Whites.

There is one Black teacher, a couple of Asian American teachers, and a few more Hispanic teachers. I have not experienced any form of bigotry or racism from the teachers. Some of the students are probably ignorant and have exhibited signs of racial bigotry, but not too much.

The school has many computers and an extensive library. That's good. I'm in honors classes, so these classes are not unruly; most of the students there do their work. I do hear of some regular classes where the students are falling asleep.

His focus on science:
I don't know if it was a conscious decision or not, but my father has tried to do everything he can to help us stay focused. Some time ago when I was in elementary school, he would get us up on Sundays and have us work. We thought that that was just insane to be getting up when we didn't have homework. And when I was in first to third grades, I didn't have homework, so he suggested that I ask my teacher for home work. Of course, I never did anything like that--I didn't want any homework.

I guess it helped that my mom went to UC Berkeley and got her BA, then she went to Nursing School and got her nursing degree. After that she worked for the Naval Air Base until we were born, then she stayed home as a house wife and mother to take care of us. That kept me focused.

On his SAT Test:
I didn't take any SAT courses, as such, instead, my parents got us the software programs for those tests. When I was in eighth grade, I took the test and did not do well. That terrified me; I thought that I must be dumb, so I studied more and looked at another SAT program. Then in high school I took it again and got a better score.

On Going Out and Rap Music:
I go out with my friends periodically. We may take in a movie. Most of my friends are smart and have goals, so they don't engage in drugs and all of that. My parents don't have any problems with them.

Also, I listen to some Hip Hop music, but not everything. Usually rap R&B. The hard-core rap, some of it is just stupid. I want to understand the words and I want the music to have a good beat to it. Some of Puff Daddy's songs are good; most rap artists have a few good songs and a lot of bad ones. DMX has no value; pretty much, everything he has is bad. As far as the messages of rap, they don't influence me. I don't get my morals from music. That's just stupid! I know what I believe in.

On his major:
I plan to get a MS and a Ph.D. in Genetics. Genetics captured my attention because of the way a biology teacher presented the material to us in high school. I liked it then and planned to major in it. But that can change.

On his maturity:
Church has been a major part of my life too. It has been a big part of my life and help me establish morals.I don't feel deprived because I have had my head in the books. I will have a time to consider all of the things that I have not experienced. []