LAKE PARK — Clay Hurdle wants to make a difference in children’s lives.

At a recent bilingual story time at the Valdosta-Lowndes County Library, he read, “The Cat in the Hat,” involving children by relating events in the story to their lives. The children were entertained. Hurdle and the parents laughed with amusement at the children’s reactions.

At 15 years old, he offers Bilingual Adventures in Spanish and English (BASE), reading a variety of books to children in both languages.

Hurdle decided to start the bilingual story time as a way to apply the Spanish-speaking skills he learns in school. He thought reading to children would be another benefit because doing so would “encourage them to read, to learn and to learn another language,” he said.

During tutoring sessions in Echols County, Hurdle observed local children spending time at the library and how many of those in the community were of the Spanish population.

He met with the librarian, who agreed to let him begin the bilingual story time. After a few months, she introduced him to a librarian at the Valdosta-Lowndes County Library and set up the recent bilingual story time event for Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Beginning in April, Hurdle will begin reading to children at the Valdosta library monthly.

“What I’d like to do is expand it into other libraries, like Lake Park, and maybe even schools,” he said. “Once it gets that big, I’d like to include 4-H.”

Growing up, Hurdle’s mom, Janice Hurdle, “spoke highly” of the Spanish language, which perked his interest to learn more. Three years ago, he started learning basic skills from a tutor in Valdosta and enrolled in classes when he started high school.

During an interview, his mom urged him to recite Biblical verses in Spanish, which he did from memory with ease. Hurdle says his goal is to speak the language fluently by college. He also plans to take French in his senior year of high school.

“Learning another foreign language may seem scary, but it really isn’t,” he said. “Once you get into it, it’s not as hard as you think and it will be so worthwhile, even if you don’t become completely fluent or anything. It’ll be so worthwhile to say,

‘Hey, I can speak a different language.’”

Hurdle is in the tenth grade, but what people might not know when they first meet him is that he has been homeschooled since the sixth grade.

The decision to enter homeschool is one he made with his mom and dad, Greg Hurdle.

“We’d always wanted to try it,” he said. “I’d been to public and private school and we just wanted to try something new. When I went into homeschool, I actually really loved it. I mean, public school was great, private school was great, but homeschool is the one that stuck. It’s my favorite.”

Hurdle receives a majority of his curriculum through Bob Jones University (BJU) Press, combined with mathematical curriculum from Saxon. He learns subject material from watching college style lectures on DVD.

“The teachers on screen teach me everything I need to know,” he said.

Along with the DVDs, he completes assignments, readings, quizzes, and tests — all of which are graded by his mom using a BJU Press rubric and mailed in at the end of each semester.

“(Homeschool) really builds my self motivation, so I am pretty hard on myself,” he said. “I think my study skills have gotten a lot better. I think that (homeschool) helps me personalize a little bit more. Sure (teachers) give me study guides, but it’s my responsibility to make sure that after they’ve taught me, it’s my responsibility to kind of build that and apply it to myself and to everything around me.”

In an interview, he related his ability to retain information he has learned by listing biology terms and definitions from memory.

Hurdle’s typical school day begins with him waking up between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., followed by more than four and a half hours of school work, the minimum required by BJU Press. His course load is the same every day and consists of geometry, world history, Spanish, English, biology and keyboarding. Once a week he attends Spanish and essay writing tutoring, and three days a week he goes to the YMCA.

His favorite class, by far, is world history.

“It is fun for me to memorize and just remember all the dates that have happened,” he said. “Maybe not all of them,” he laughs, “but just to remember all of the things that have happened to shape the world we live in today.”  

While Hurdle had positive experiences in public and private schools, he does not miss going.

“I still get to see my friends,” he said. “I see them just as much now as I would in regular school.”

When asked if he thought he misses out on things by not attending a high school campus, he said, “Not really. Prom, sure enough, but I’m a terrible dancer. I mean, I still get a class ring and a diploma, too, in my curriculum.”

Hurdle is also in the Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP), a program for academically gifted students. Through it, he has taken classes from colleges in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.

His involvement in the community includes weekly volunteering at America’s Second Harvest of South Georgia, the South Georgia Classic and the Lowndes Middle School Chess Club.

He has also received the President’s Education Award and been a part of the National Society of High School Scholars, Mu Eta Sigma National Homeschool Math Honor Society, Eta Sigma Alpha National Homeschool Honor Society and South Georgia Gator Club.

When Hurdle is not going over new lessons, he can be heard striking chords on the piano, a hobby he adopted three years ago. When he read at the Valdosta-Lowndes County Library’s recent bilingual event, seeing a piano in the corner of the children’s amphitheater excited him.

“Piano is one of those things that make me feel good,” he said. “It’s one of my passions. (When I play) the feeling is awesome. It’s exhilarating.”

He also enjoys taking voice lessons and playing golf with his two best friends and his dad, “a golf fanatic,” who has exposed his son to the game most of Hurdle’s life.

“I enjoy it enough I think I’m going to be playing all my life,” he said. 

In two years he will graduate and has plans to go to college. While he has not made a decision on where he wants to go, being a Gainesville, Fla., native and an avid Gator fan, his No. 1 choice is the University of Florida.

“I think it’s a good school and the academic program is great,” he said. “I love the atmosphere.”

Hurdle is considering a future career as a doctor of dermatology or pathology, but music is definitely something close to his heart.