His strong work ethic is apparent when speaking with Cole Clark, an eighth grader at Benton Grade School. While he shares that school comes easily to him, it’s clear that a competitive spirit, prioritization, and a strong focus burn within.
Cole
Clark
Doing It All
As Cole rattles off everything that he does—from hunting and fishing to playing quarterback for Benton’s junior football league to drumming in the band and contributing on the school’s scholar bowl team, I quickly realize it might have been easier to ask Cole what he isn’t involved in! Benton Grade School has provided countless opportunities for Cole to gain diverse knowledge and experience in these most critically formative years.
I will remember a lot of sports, and just everything we’ve done over the years at this school.
When asked to reflect, Cole shares that it’s representing Benton competitively, from football and basketball to scholar bowl, that he’ll remember most fondly. “I will remember a lot of sports, and just everything we’ve done over the years at this school,” shares Cole. He adds that in scholar bowl, “We went undefeated our sixth-grade year and lost only once last year, to Murphysboro.”
While Cole’s favorite side of school is seeing his friends, many with whom he plays football and basketball, he also loves to learn, considering geography as his favorite subject. He’s working his way through Algebra I. He plans to take Geometry his Freshman year and hopes to work his way up through Calculus by the time he graduates. He shares that Mrs. McCollum has been incredibly impactful, ‘making math much easier,’ as a result of her teaching.
Looking ahead, Cole wants to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. Cole’s grandfather owns Roger Clark Veterinarian, located south of town and serving Benton, West Frankfort, and the surrounding communities. Like his grandfather, Cole wants to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and study veterinary science.
“My grandpa is a veterinarian, and I help there every once in a while. That’s something I’d really like to do.” Cole shares that while his grandfather has worked with farm animals, most of his work is with house pets, an area of veterinary work he’d like to focus upon as well.
Cole is the older of two boys. His younger brother is in fourth grade. When not in school, he loves being outdoors, especially when hunting, fishing, or riding dirt bikes are involved. Over the summer, Cole vacationed in Colorado, where he says the family experienced a variety of places, riding dirt bikes throughout the state’s scenic countryside.
Cole typically hunts and fishes with his father but pridefully shares that he shot his biggest deer to date, an eight-point, two-hundred-pound buck, when he was alone. He likes to go shotgun and bow hunting and got a turkey this spring. While he’s unsure whether Benton High School has a competitive fishing team, he says he’d be very interested in fishing for the high school if it does.
Cole leads a rich childhood. From hunting, fishing, and riding motorbikes to playing football and basketball, playing the quad drums in the band, displaying his knowledge in scholar bowl, and helping his grandfather in his veterinary clinic, he’s living his best life. It’s impressive to see how full of a life he leads.
It’s all tied together by a community with rich and diverse resources and a school system that foundationally connects everything together the way a small yet vibrant community should. When asked what makes Benton unique, he suggests that it’s the community resources. Still, looking deeper, he shifts his answer, admitting it’s the people of the community that bring those resources together that truly matters.
