VIDALIA — Chantry Simpson does a lot at school, but he doesn’t mind. And now, he has to add Vidalia Junior High School student of the year to his activities.

The school faculty recently selected the 14-year-old for the student of the year distinction, and Principal Whest Shirley said Simpson was a perfect choice.

“He is a model student, he works very hard, he attends school every day,” Shirley said. “He’s very involved in his church and the community, and he represents our school very well.

“I couldn’t have picked a better eighth grader to represent our school.”

As for Simpson, he said he wasn’t expecting to be chosen.

“I was kind of surprised,” he said. “I was honored.”

In addition to maintaining an A-B grade average, Simpson plays football, is the vice-president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and is a member of student council.

On the football team, he played the defensive right tackle. He’s tall and wide, built for the position.

“A lot of our other players were on the offense, so I was put on there because I am one of the bigger players and one of the veterans,” he said. “It was a lot of work, but I loved it.”

As vice-president of FCA, Simpson is in charge of arranging speakers for the club’s meetings.

“I always have to find someone,” he said. “I might ask my youth minister to do it, or my friend’s youth minister.”

In addition to helping set up school functions like dances, Simpson has worked with the student council to raise funds for the school, the American Heart Association and to buy two local children Christmas presents.

One of the ways he’s helped raise funds for the student council is by selling teddy bears, something a football player might not normally do.

“It was kind of different, but I knew we were doing it for a good cause,” he said.

But school isn’t about extracurricular activities, and Simpson said his favorite class is Advanced Math.

“I like math because it challenges you in ways that other subjects don’t,” he said.

“In other classes, you’re just reading and you answer questions about what you learned, but in math you’re actually putting in formulas and working things out.”

Outside of school, Simpson is a member of the Calvary Baptist Church youth group, and he said he sometimes helps with younger children in the church nursery.

“A lot of them look up to me as a role model, so I will play with them and ask them to give me a high-five,” he said.

One day, Simpson hopes to be a police officer or a game warden, a desire he said was influenced by having a lot of law enforcement officers in his life, including his father, who is a forester.

“I like what he does in the woods,” Simpson said.

Chantry Simpson is the son of John and Tee Simpson.