Teen shoots for the sky

He's your average kid -- he plays video games, talks a lot on the phone and hangs out with his friends. Occasionally he strums on his guitar or picks up his clarinet or trombone, but this young man is going places -- up if he has his way. He may be short on stature, but he's big on dreams and aspirations, and if his accomplishments so far are any indication, he'll meet those goals.

Fifteen-year-old Seth Box is the son of an Air Force Master Sgt., a sophomore at Wasilla High School, plays soccer, is an honor student, a senior attorney with Mat-Su Youth Court, was the 2002-'03 student representative on the Mat-Su school board, is a Chief Master Sgt. with the Birchwood Civil Air Patrol and, someday, he says, he'll be a fighter pilot. This summer Seth will be taking his first official step in that direction when becomes one of approximately 35 high school students nationwide to attend the Air Force's three-year-old Teen Aviation Camp in Colorado Springs, Colo. It is step one of his carefully orchestrated plan.

"Ever since I could make a paper airplane, I have wanted to be a pilot," he wrote in his application to attend the camp. And after a few minutes with this bright, focused young man his dream seems not only attainable, but a guarantee. He is busy, he admits, and many of his current involvements are the means to an end -- they are necessary to reach his goal. Even so, he doesn't do anything half-heartedly, either. Whether it is the school board, the Civil Air Patrol or his job as camp counselor at YMCA camp, Seth dedicates himself to the job entirely.

It's not hard to see where Seth's drive and Air Force dreams come from. He grew up within the ranks - he is the only child of Master Sgt. Gregory "Stoney" Box, a single father who is currently stationed at Elmendorf AFB and who instilled in Seth the ability to set his sights high and reach them.

"The most influential person in my life is my dad," Seth wrote on his application to the Air Force aviation camp. "He always encourages me to do my best in everything that I do. The Air Force is his career and I want it to be mine, too. My dad is helping me to become an active member in my school and community, which will help me reach my goal of being a cadet at the Air Force Academy."

The Box's home in Wasilla is the first one they have lived in off base, Seth said, something that at first took some getting used to. But living in Alaska was a goal of his and his father's, and after applying for a transfer for "a long time" they settled here four years ago. It was a far cry from their previous station, on the tiny Island of Azores in the mid-Atlantic.

Azores was a tropical paradise, but a place with little for a teen-ager to do, Seth said. A common complaint of teens in Mat-Su is that there is "nothing to do" - a complaint Seth said he can't relate to. By comparison, he said, Mat-Su offers volumes more than a small island in the middle of nowhere where his entire class consisted of about 20 people.

"There are a lot more things to do here than Azores. I don't know why people would complain about it here," he said, adding, "Most kids find enough to do -- whether it's good or bad."

Seth sees the results of the bad things kids do by serving in Youth Court. As an attorney, he said at times he's had to defend some of his friends from school -- something he described as "awkward." But he very much believes in the program and its ability to keep his peers from getting into worse trouble, he said.

"In youth court I can make lots of difference to my peers," he said.

His family, he said, has made all the difference for him. With the support of his father and his grandmother Mary, who now lives with them and helps Seth with his many endeavors, he feels confident he will reach his goals. There is no uncertainty in his voice when this 15-year-old says he will be a fighter pilot some day. When asked if he is following in his father's footsteps by heading for the Air Force, Seth assuredly replies, "I'm going to go beyond my father's footsteps."