Student Body President & Renaissance Man
BY JONATHAN KANE
Kenneth Pratt, who will be entering his senior year at Wood River High School, is one busy young man.
Carrying a 4.0 grade point average, Pratt was National Honor Society junior president. He is also co-captain of the drum line, a member of the water club, part of the Family Career Community Leaders of America, runs cross-country and track for the Wolverines, and has excelled in student government. He was class president his sophomore and junior years and this year he will be student body president.
Of all of these, Pratt is particularly passionate about running and made it central to his personal project.
“I’ve always thought it was really cool,” Pratt said in an interview. “You’re not thinking about anything when you go for a run. You’re free from responsibilities for a little bit. I love how even when you are having a bad day, you can go for a run and feel better.”
In seventh and eighth grades, Pratt participated in track after his sister got him into it. His freshman year he joined the cross-country team and went to districts.
“I think I like track more because I’m better at it,” he said. “I really prefer to sprint rather than run long distances. But cross-country really helps for training and it’s a great bunch of kids.” The course is 3.1 miles.
In track, Pratt specializes in the 300 hurdles.
“My sister ran them, so I thought, I’ll try it,” he said. “If she could do it, so could I. Everyone thinks it’s jumping, but the real idea is to get as close to the hurdle as you can. That’s how you go faster.”
Pratt went to state his sophomore and junior years.
“I competed in it in middle school and I had the technique down but I didn’t do well because I wasn’t fast enough,” he said. “I got bigger and progressed and hopefully next year I’ll do even better. I really like the 300 hurdles because it’s my own event and you’re by yourself. But I still love the 4×4 team event because you can run faster and you have other people pushing you.”
His sophomore year, Pratt did his personal project (formerly the senior project) and ran a half-marathon in Boise, which is 13.2 miles.
“I competed but I also wrote out a training program for myself and then an eating program and dietary schedule,” said Pratt. I ran six days a week working on different distances until I built up to 10-11 miles. I had to run every day like that.
“The dietary program was basically eating healthy overall. I came up with a meal plan with healthy foods that would help me to run. In the end, I finished first in my age group – 14-19 years old – and I did it in under an hour and a half. It was such a great feeling to know that I accomplished something so hard and came out on top.”