Benton teen Luke Wyatt's fascination with history and government began early. It stuck with Wyatt over the years, so you might just see him run for office in Kentucky one day.
"I just fell in love with history and it started all back in elementary school due to the teacher I had called Ms. (Gwen) McCaleb and she was one of my idols and I still look back at her today as my one of my favorite teachers of all time," he said.
"She taught history and just made me fall in love with history and U.S. government and everything."
History, as Wyatt noted, is how we learn from the past. There are patterns if you look and that's how we can teach children of tomorrow about what not to do.
"It's live and you learn," he said. "We lived it and we learned it, so we know what not to do. We may not know what to do, but we know what not to do and I think that's what's so interesting about history."
The 19-year-old Marshall County High School senior currently looks to study political science at Murray State University, before moving on to earn a law degree. He's eyeing Vanderbilt University or Belmont University for law school, which would suit his career aspirations.
He's particularly interested in intellectual property and government law.
"Down in Nashville, the country music scene is very big and I love football and I love sports," he said. "I love country music. I just love everything about it and … one of my guitar teachers says the biggest thing in entertainment, sports - if you're a competitor - is that everyone needs a lawyer. Everyone needs that person there to stand by them."
He wants to help people in the right direction.
"But I don't want my career to stop there and only do that in Nashville," he added. "I want to come back to Kentucky that gave so much to me and I really want to run for office. I'm very big into politics and very big into government and I really want to want to run for office someday here in Kentucky."
Wyatt, son of Craig and Glenda Wyatt of Benton, is the Paducah Bank Teen of the Week.
Each Monday and Tuesday, The Paducah Sun profiles area high school seniors chosen from a pool of nominees for Teen of the Week recognition. Around the end of the school year, a selection committee chooses one of these students for Teen of the Year, which carries a $5,000 scholarship. Another student will receive an Inspiration Award and a $1,000 scholarship.
At Marshall County, Wyatt earns top grades with a weighted GPA above 4.3 and a composite 30 ACT score. He's involved in a variety of clubs and extracurricular activities, including student council, Science Olympiad, academic team, robotics team, Beta Club and National Honor Society. He's taken part in football, basketball and track and field for Marshall County, serving as football team co-captain for senior year.
Wyatt also attended the Governor Scholar's Program and Kentucky Boys State program.
Graduation is now only months away, but "senioritis" doesn't seem to affect Wyatt, who said senior year is going awesome. He loves Marshall County High School and praised the school's teachers and administrators.
"Yes, I'm looking forward to college and having a great experience and starting my journey and getting closer to my law degree and becoming a lawyer, but I don't want to wish my life away," he said. "I want to take one step at a time and soak it all in."