A hard day’s work is something Kellen Field knows well.

One of South Whidbey High School’s two valedictorians in the class of 2013, the 18-year-old labored in school and in his garage. Field is a 4.0 grade point average student and a car-enthusiast who plans to swap in a Mazda Protege engine for his 1991 Ford Festivo, a little hatchback coupe that’s older than he is.

“I’m big into cars … from little Hot Wheels to now,” Field said. “Having a practical and a technical background going into an engineering field is really useful.”

The California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo-bound student plans to major in mechanical engineering. What he’d like to build someday, Field could not imagine. The automobile industry would not be a terrible career, though.

“The automotive stuff is changing really quickly right now,” he said.

Leaving Washington for his higher learning was nothing new. Neither of his parents received their undergraduate degrees in the Evergreen State (his dad graduated from Cornell University in New York and his mom from Valparaiso in Indiana). The engineering program at the California university lured Field, and the idyllic campus had its appeal, too.

“They have a lot more hands-on and technical stuff that’s better for getting into the career field,” he said.

Field is all about fieldwork, whether it’s working on his car in Chad Felgar’s shop classes at the high school, at his job at Useless Bay Golf & Country Club or on Advanced Placement statistics problems. As a shop student, in which he took two classes, he worked on an old Bobcat, a little bit on the remodel of the Admiralty Head Lighthouse lantern room and on the mini monster truck. On the course, Field drives the cart that picks up golf balls from the driving range (so stop aiming for the cart).

Staying on the straight-A path just happened, as Field tells it. He didn’t focus on being valedictorian, spending an average of one hour a night on homework. Instead, he was attentive during class, did the work, turned it in and kept getting As from his days at Langley Middle School to now.

“I pay attention in class,” he said. “I just haven’t done anything but maintain As, so I’m just used to it.”

The closest he came to losing the 4.0 was in his Advanced Placement U.S. history class. Learning early American history was tough when, as Field said, “everybody is named John or Jane.”

Outside the classroom, Field keeps active. He was on the school’s Knowledge Bowl team, part of National Torch Honor Society which encourages students to volunteer and assist their communities, played soccer with South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District and advanced as far as a Life Scout, when he left the Boys Scouts because of its stance against homosexuality. Field said the national Boy Scouts of America’s recent vote to admit gay scouts was, “a great step toward where they need to be going.”

Earning high marks in class was a simple task to Field, even when taking classes like Advanced Placement biology, Advanced Placement U.S. history or Advanced Placement statistics, like he did. Do the “Field” work.

“As long as you’re paying attention in class and not sleeping,” Field said.