News 3 Sports would like to congratulate our latest Classroom Champion, D.J. Cumby. The Caldwell senior has a 3.2 Grade Point Average and ranks twentieth in his class. D.J. is an active member in the Spanish Club, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the New Tabor Brethren Youth Fellowship. At school, he works hard to maintain a rigorous schedule of Pre-AP and AP classes. It's that dedication that helps D.J. excel in the classroom.

Teacher Debbid Smith says, "Any goal that he sets, whether it's in engineering or anything afterwards, he will achieve it and he has that drive that if he doesn't understand something, he'll come in in the morning, or if he's absent, he'll come in and see what he missed."

D.J. extends that drive to athletics as the starting Quarterback for the Caldwell Hornets. He's led the Hornets to two winning seasons at Quarterback and has been named to the Academic All-District team for three consecutive years. D.J. also plays Varsity Baseball for the Hornets and was named to the first team All-District last year. D.J. is also a two year academic All-district baseball team member.

The playing experience and leadership that D.J. brings with him, no matter what the sport, can be a big game-changer, too. Coach Russel Young says, "That senior leadership... that experience that they get from playing all four years through high school...that's a bog thing that I think a lot of people don't really get into. You know, how to conduct yourself on the field and go out there and do what you need to do and get the job done."

D.J. Cumby says, "I'm a pretty vocal leader. I also like to lead by example. If someone's doing something wrong, I like to correct them, and also if they're not trying too hard I like to correct them, too. I just like to keep a positive attitude about everything. As long as you stay happy and everyone's happy, then you play better all together."

D.J. has yet to decide on a university, but plans on getting a four-year degree in Civil Engineering.

Congratulations to D.J. Cumby of Caldwell High School, this week's News 3 Sports Classroom Champion.