A painful injury in the 7
thgrade set Jeffrey Cervenka’s career path early in life.
“My foot got stuck in the ground during football practice and I tore my ACL,” he remembers. “At first, I didn’t think it was so bad, so I continued to play. But after a while, I couldn’t even stand.”
His injury took months to heal, and many visits to physical therapy. After six months, Jeff was better, but time off the field – and off his feet – gave him time to read up on his favorite Texas teams and become a “sports nerd,” and an intense fan of the Rangers, Cowboys and Mavericks.
Most sports are known by their stats, and years later, Jeff’s ability to do math in his head had him competing in a different arena: as a member of Bishop Dunne’s TAPPS Academic team. He competed in February in “Numbers sense,” which means he has to figure out equations in his head, on the spot.
Last year, as a junior, he competed in both the Math and Spelling categories for the team, and he always looked forward to the competition. To be ready for the Math Sense competition, he was studying higher placement math – and in fact, he took three hours straight of it this past year.
“I had Mr. Braun for Calculus and right after that I had Mr. Braun for Statistics.” That might be a lot of math, but fortunately for Jeff, Mr. Braun’s classes are his favorite. He was getting 95’ s in each. “There are not many students who can be successful in both AP courses but Jeffrey has thrived in both,” Says Mr. Braun, a former Math competitor who was on the 8th grade MATH COUNTS state championship team in Pennsylvania, and went on to graduate with both a Computer Science degree and a Master’s degree in Education from Notre Dame. “Jeffrey is a joy to teach. He comes to class prepared and eager to learn.”
Not that math comes easily to Jeff. He says the good grades he gets are a result of lot of hard work. “Most people don’t know I study a lot.” And all that studying has resulted in a GPA of 4.42, at the top of his senior class, Valedictorian for the Bishop Dunne class of 2014.
That’s something that almost didn’t happen. As he graduated from St. Elizabeth’s, where he attended from pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade, Jeff thought about attending a different high school, rather than following in the footsteps of his two big brothers, Chris, class of 2010, now attending UTA and Greg, Class of 2012, Valedictorian of his senior class; he plans on continuing his education in Medical School. “I thought it would be fun to go where some of my friends were going, but my parents highly recommended I come here.” Jeff admits now that the recommendation from his parents was right, and his decision to attend Bishop Dunne has made all the difference.
That was confirmed for him on senior retreat. Jeff says the time away from school with his senior classmates and the special bonding that occurred there in the east Texas woods is his favorite memory of his four years at Dunne. “It was really impactful, to get to know my classmates on a different, deeper level. We all grew so much closer.”
In fact, when asked what makes Bishop Dunne special, Jeff says it’s the “very friendly, close, small-town ‘homey’ atmosphere here. I feel comfortable here.”
Being comfortable makes it easier to learn, even difficult subjects. Jeff said reading Crime and Punishment in AP English IV with Ms. Graham was a difficult task, and that he would have been drowning in the class if it wasn’t for Ms. Graham’s ability to help him understand the heavy book.
But it was big brother Greg who literally saved Jeff from drowning when he was about five. “I slipped out of the ‘floaties’ on my arms and went under,” Jeff says, “But Greg saw me and pulled me up.” That scary experience led to swim lessons for Jeff at the Waxahachie YMCA. In fact, when confronted with a tough situation in his life, Jeff is willing to meet it head on.
Alma Keglovits has known him since he was in her Biology class freshman year. “Jeff may be quiet, but he is definitely a leader! You can always count on him - very reliable and works hard! He has spent his time in Ecology Club picking up trash and recycling in the community at the Bishop Arts Festivals in Oak Cliff. He pays close attention to detail - his responses in Biology class were always quite thorough. His peers respect him. He is a quick learner and is always willing to lend a helping hand to others.”
His goal is to be ready for anything in his future, which may include missionary work. He prepares for it with determination and dedication. He’s been a Eucharistic Minister at St. Elizabeth’s since he was 13, serving at any Mass he’s asked to, and works eight hours every Saturday as a courtesy clerk at the local Kroger, from 12 p.m.to 8 p.m. It’s a 30 minute drive from his home in Red Oak to school, so “sleeping in” for him is only an option on Saturdays. “And then I sleep till about nine.”
He has plenty of options for college however, having been accepted at every college he applied to: The University of Dallas, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of Texas at Arlington, UNT and Texas Tech. He will go wherever his hard work takes him – to study Physical therapy, to help others who might have been injured on the football field.
His favorite song, “Be Somebody,” by Thousand Foot Crutch, has lyrics that read:
I’m just the boy inside the man, not exactly who you think I am
Trying to trace my steps back here again so many times
I’m just a speck inside your hand, you came and made me who I am
I remember where it all began so clearly
One painful experience in his childhood has set Jeff’s path for his future, wherever it may take him. His dream job would be working for the Mavericks. Dirk is his favorite. “But I’ll go wherever I’m needed,” he asserts. “I hope to make my parents proud.”
“We all wanna be somebody, we just need a taste of who we are.” – Thousand Foot Crutch