Meet the Community: Ohio Virtual Academy Student Zach Veach

‘Meet the K¹² Community’– is a regular blog series featuring students, learning coaches, teachers, curriculum specialists and anyone else who plays a role in making online education a reality for children world-wide.

Ohio Virtual Academy Student: Zach Veach

I first learned of this amazing 16 year old through our Twitter account @K¹²Learn, receiving tweets from him about attending our online schools.  Little did I know that the person behind those tweets was a student, author, and race car driver.

Meet, Zach Veach, a 16 year old honor roll student at Ohio Virtual Academy who wears many hats! 

He’s an Author

His first book, ’99 Things Teens Wish They Knew Before Turning 16’ – is described “as a manual for anyone trying to navigate their way through the twists and turns of adolescence.”  

Zach took his own experience with being bullied and used it to write a guidebook for other teens going through a tough time. The book offers advice not only from Zach, but also from some well known athletes & young champions, like 12-year-old Adora Syitak, the youngest person to ever speak at the TED Conference.

He’s a Race Car Driver

Zach races throughout the year in the USF2000 National Championship Series as a member of the Andretti Autosports team, the most successful team in Indy Racing League history. Pretty impressive!

He’s an amazing kid!

Creating a phone application to fight texting behind the wheel, Zach acts as a champion for safe driving, as the "spokeskid" for Oprah's "No Phone Zone".

Attending an online school like Ohio Virtual Academy allows him the flexibility to pursue his passion for race car driving, which often requires him to train every day for many hours, and still complete his academic studies.

Watch our Skype Interview with Zach 

Zach Veach related resources:

Ohio Virtual Academy

Zach Veach

ABC News: Bullied Teen Is Driven to Succeed

Amazon: 99 Things Teens Wish They Knew Before Turning 16

Zach Veach: A 15-Year-Old Takes on Texting and Driving

The ‘Meet the K¹² Community’ series introduces you to people and families from all walks of life, from around the world and all over K¹² to find out how online education became a part of their lives.