Lakewood Ranch teen earns National Leadership Forum spot

Thankfully, Lakewood Ranch's Will Diesel has turned 16, which means he can walk around Lakewood Main Street at night without a chaperone.

Somehow, though, I think Will would have done fine last year, or the year before.

The Out-of-Door Academy junior returned Aug. 1 from St. John's University in New York City after participating in the 2017 National Youth Leadership Forum: Medicine. Most of the students were nominated by their teachers and counselors and, if selected, would attend a nine-day program dedicated to career development through introduction to issues in public health, medical ethics, research and general practice.

I doubt this kid is going to be setting any couches on fire at Starbucks.

Whether his personal fire results in a career in medicine remains to be seen. Visiting Will at his mom's and step-dad's Lake Club home, it was obvious he is taking a very relaxed attitude toward his future.

"I always thought I wanted to be something like a social worker," Will said under the watchful eye of his mom, Brooke Diesel-Veith. "I want to help people."

Or perhaps he will be a sportscaster.

The charm of Will Diesel is his every-kid aura surrounded by a sense of impending greatness. He seems comfortable with considering three paths of life that could be labeled fun (sportscasting), selfless (social worker) or paramount (medicine). Most of us might feel additional weight to choose the most noble of directions. I don't get that here.

Those at the National Youth Leadership Forum might have whet his appetite, but he's got time to think all this through.

"I'm not sure I want to be a doctor or a surgeon," Will said. "It takes an extended period of time. You go to college for four years, then medical school, then residency. It's tough. You are constantly studying. It's very challenging."

Apparently, his ODA math teacher, Shelley Stone, thought Will was equal to the challenge. Sitting with his classmates during his sophomore year, Will's interest was piqued when Stone asked the class if anyone was interested in medicine. He raised his hand.

Stone took it from there, nominating Will for the National Youth Leadership Forum. He was selected, and somewhat shocked.

"I'm not the best student," he said.

If he is not a solid "A" student, he is a "B-plus-plus." He's done it dealing with adversity, including the death of his father, Paul Diesel, three years ago.

His mom and step-dad, Cary Veith, moved from Massachusetts to Florida three years ago as well. Will spent his eighth grade year at ODA, and wanted out. His ninth-grade year was spent at a boarding school, Holderness of Plymouth, N.H., so he could be closer to his childhood friends. That meant being away from his twin sister, Caroline.

So he came back to ODA for his sophomore year, and felt more at home. "I thought Florida was too hot," he said. "But I like it now."

Apparently, he loves playing sports at ODA as well. He hopes to play golf, basketball and baseball this school year.

Mom is glad he likes Florida, but she trusted him, whether that meant sending him to New England for a boarding school, letting him be part of a program in New York City, or having him join friends on Main Street.

"I knew (boarding school) was making him a man," his mom said. "He makes good decisions."

Ah, those decisions. He has to be a kid and think like an adult. It comes out when he talks about the leadership forum.

"I thought, 'Wow, this is sick,'" he said about going to St. John's, which used to be a college basketball power. "It was also very metropolitan. Very diverse. I loved it.

"But my initial impression was everyone would be nerdy. They would sit around and thing about, 'What's 22 times something.' I would be an outcast. I would be thinking, 'How is (Laker) Lonzo Ball doing in summer league?

"It was cool, though, and mundane at times, gruesome. We would watch a knee surgery for two hours. If you weren't into medicine, you would be bored to death."

He said his parents always had done a good job shielding him from the outside world, but his eyes were wide open as he took a walking tour of Queens. "I met so many kids with giant personalities," he said. "It really opened my eyes to the rest of the world."

His mom then told a story which described him quite well. She was dropping him off at St. John's and was looking around for him. All these intellectual offerings at the ready, and he had found a pick-up basketball game in the middle of the campus and was playing.

Will's world is one of choices.