Kahlin Michl has a rule: try it, and if it clicks, keep going. The list of things that have clicked is long. Tennis. Trumpet. Trap shooting. Scholastic bowl. Each one arrived the same way — someone pointed it out, or he wandered in, and something stuck.

"A little bit of everything," he said when asked how he fits into Jasper County Schools. "And if I like it, then I stick with it."

He's the likely team captain for the tennis team his senior year — he joined officially sophomore year, having grown up hitting with his much-older sister a few times a month, and has climbed to the number-one spot on varsity. He's played first trumpet in concert and marching band for the past two years, having started on the instrument in sixth grade. He's been on varsity trap shooting for all four years. His very first time shooting, with a borrowed gun and four or five warm-up shots, he hit 92 out of 100. He's been losing ground ever since and finds this philosophically baffling: "It's like a golf swing where things you aren't entirely conscious of still affect you." He captains the scholastic bowl team, which he describes precisely: "Two teams saying who knows more random facts than the other." A packet heavy on literature can wreck you if you haven't read the books. He's been doing it for four years.

He ran track in junior high and freshman year and walked away. The ROI wasn't visible enough. "You might shave off .2 seconds. There's your personal record." Tennis replaced it. "You either hit a really good shot or it goes straight into the net. There's more visible milestones."

The competitive streak runs through everything — not necessarily by choice. "I'm fairly competitive in just about everything, no matter if I try not to." Some of it traces to his sister, who was good at things before he was. "I wasn't gonna give every point to her."

For college, the picture is still developing. He applied to the University of Illinois for engineering and was deferred — a decision expected around March 22nd, the same day a county-based scholarship opportunity he's been tracking will also resolve. He's been accepted to SIUE for robotics, which he likes because it draws from multiple engineering disciplines. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is still out there, ranked fourth through seventh in the world for engineering, long-shot on cost unless something breaks his way. He lost a $50,000 University of Kentucky scholarship to math: out-of-state tuition is $17,000 a semester, the scholarship covered $12,500 a year, and the four-year total came out near $140,000. He ran the numbers himself. "It kind of sucks, but who knows."

He's not sure what field of engineering pulls him most. He likes mechanical things. Aerospace interests him. He's decent with electronics, has dabbled in computers and programming. "There's nothing I can look at and say I don't think I would like that." I told him he’d make a good talk show host. He took it well.

His father is a boilermaker who grew up in Jasper County with several brothers. Book-smart wasn't his lane — practical and mechanical was. He went into the Air Force out of high school, got stationed in Korea, and something opened up in him about the world. He left the Air Force, went back as a civilian contractor to Afghanistan, and while there traveled to surrounding countries the way you'd cross a state line. Eventually found his way home to Newton, met Kahlin's mother — also from here, working in healthcare — and never left again. "You traveled around the world to meet your mom." Both parents pushed Kahlin not just to try things but to stay with them. "They've never really told me that I couldn't do something."

His sister studied abroad in Brussels through the University of Illinois Springfield, and the family visited. Two weeks: landed in Paris, moved to Brussels, day-tripped to Amsterdam, spent a week in Ireland. Four countries. "The main goal I have in life is to get the most out of life that I can."

When I asked what mark he'll leave on the world, Kahlin didn't provide a clear, immediate answer, which is fine and kind of great in its own way. "I'm not sure if I know yet. I feel like my entire life up until this point is finding — just kind of sounding out what I do want, what I'm good at, what I'm not." There's a kind of honest self-awareness in not pretending to have a destination you haven't found yet.

He describes Jasper County in one word: connected. His mother's side of the family can get news from one person to every branch of the extended family within four hours. "She was Facebook before Facebook." It's not gossip as dysfunction — it's community as early warning system, the same protective wiring small towns have always run on.

We sat down to chat for this interview on February 5, and Kahlin will have figured out where he's going by March 22nd, give or take. In the meantime, the buffet is still open.