A quiet contribution

MOSES LAKE — Despite putting hundreds of volunteer hours into improving the community and receiving more than $90,000 in college scholarships, Moses Lake resident Cameron Frederick doesn't brag about his accomplishments.

Others have to brag for him.

"He's bright, he's articulate, very, very responsible and has a real good sense of service to the community," said District Superintendent P.J. De Benedetti. "I'm sure he's going to be successful in whatever he chooses to do."

Cameron, 18, graduated from Moses Lake High School in June with 36 college credits and numerous awards. He is headed to Washington State University, where he will attend honors college to study biomedical engineering.

"I decided I might do engineering because I'm good at math and science, I like math and science and it's a field that needs a lot of workers from what I hear," he said.

While living in Moses Lake, Cameron contributed more than 600 hours of volunteer service to the community through Key Club.

He installed bird feeders at SunBridge Care & Rehabilitation Center, helped with Moses Lake Kiwanis, contributed to a highway cleanup, volunteered for the Greater Moses Lake Habitat for Humanity, the Moses Lake Food Bank and participated in Relay for Life, among several other endeavors.

"I like my work through Key Club," Cameron said. "I had a lot of fun doing that."

From elementary school through his sophomore year of high school, Cameron participated in Relay for Life, asking grandparents and friends to donate money to the American Cancer Society.

Mary Frederick, Cameron's mother, said she realized Cameron was blessed with intelligence his first-grade year, as she was grading tests for the Garden Heights Elementary School gifted program.

"When I graded (his test) I thought I had done something wrong because his score was so high," Mary Frederick said. "I went to his first grade teacher and I said, 'I don't understand what I'm doing wrong,' and she just looked at it and she saw that it was Cameron and she said, 'It's Cameron. Nothing's wrong.'"

Mary Frederick said they never talked about his high score because their family doesn't believe in bragging.

"He came home from school one day, and he said, 'Mom, (another student) said he is gifted and I'm not.'

"He said, 'Am I smart or am I dumb?'" Mary Frederick remembered.

She decided at that moment to let him know he was intelligent.

"He's very humble," said his father, Brooke Frederick. "He's accomplished a lot and he doesn't want to talk about it."

Cameron comes from a family of educators. Brooke Frederick is an Advanced Placement history teacher at Moses Lake High School and advisor for Key Club, Mary Frederick was a teacher, and Brooke Frederick's dad is a retiring professor and athletic director at Central Washington University.

Mary and Brooke Frederick told Cameron and his brother Brandt Frederick, to do their best. Cameron is described by his mother as driven.

"I can't even count the number of times that he was still up studying when we'd go to bed at midnight," she said. "Or he'd set his alarm at four or five in the morning to get up to study."

"That usually didn't work," Cameron admitted.

His academic accomplishments include scoring seventh place for probability and combinations his sophomore year of high school in the national Mu Alpha Theta math competition, being named "Most Valuable Player for the 2007 Knowledge Bowl," serving as regional lieutenant governor for Key Club and winning first place in the 2003 Trimathalon.

He graduated from high school with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average, as one of just 147 students in Washington to be named a Washington Scholar by the state Higher Education Coordinating Board.

As an eighth-grade student, Cameron traveled to high school every day to take honors geometry.

"My mom drove me practically every day for fourth period (in) high school," Cameron said.

He joined the high school math team.

His interests go beyond academics. Sports are another strong passion.

"I'm interested in sports, watching sports, following sports, playing sports on the side, and I umpire baseball and softball, and I referee soccer," he said.

For two years he has been an umpire, and for six years he has been a referee.

He began umpiring after an injury in ninth grade prevented him from participating on the high school baseball team. As he swung the bat during practice, he suffered a fractured knee. He spent the rest of the year wearing a knee brace.

"I tried playing my 10th-grade year. My knees never were the same," Cameron said. "I didn't have a lot of power with the bat to make up for it, so I just was done."

He said he enjoys umpiring and he wouldn't want to change his situation. He can be a part of the game, gets paid for it, helps children out and makes sure people don't get out of control.

He enjoys refereeing soccer, too.

"In soccer you can get a pretty good running workout," Cameron said.

Brandt Frederick, 16, who is entering 11th grade this year, seems to be following in Cameron's footsteps.

"I've been trying to get him to do better than me," Cameron said.

He hopes Brandt can become district governor for Key Club, above Cameron's title of regional lieutenant governor.

The two were on math team together when Brandt was in second grade and Cameron was in fourth grade because Brandt was smart enough to join the team.

They served on Key Club together, and Brandt said his decision to join was influenced by his brother and dad.

Cameron traveled to Japan through the Yonezawa Sister City Exchange program. This summer is Brandt's turn.

"I saw how much he liked it and then I decided it would be fun too," Brandt said.

Cameron said he feels ready to leave Moses Lake for Washington State University. Through Circle K International, he plans to continue his service as a volunteer.

He is unsure whether he is going to settle in Moses Lake when he is finished with his education.

"I'd say I'll just go where life leads me," he said.