14-year-old juggles city duties, school, fun

It's a wonder that Austin Lee, who last summer became the youngest member of St. Cloud's Park and Recreation Advisory Board, had any time to accept ABC News' "Person of the Week" honors. Or to speak with Ellen DeGeneres by phone.

"I probably spend an hour a day doing homework, another two to three hours skateboarding -- well, eight hours a day skateboarding on weekends -- and almost every other hour that I'm not in school is spent attending meetings, looking at designs and doing whatever else it takes to get this new skate park built in St. Cloud," Lee said recently.

"It's not easy. Being a ninth-grader can be pretty demanding."

Lee is 14. And shortly after becoming the youngest-ever voting member of any board in St. Cloud last summer, it was time for him to adjust to being a freshman at St. Cloud Apollo High School. Fame could wait.

But not for long. ABC News came calling in October, when it named him its person of the week. Then the phone call from Ellen.

Meanwhile, at the board meetings, "I think I've learned a few new words," he said. "That first board meeting I attended, I had no idea what was going on. Now, it's more like, 'Oh, this is what they really mean.' "

Lee, who has a passion for skateboarding and punk rock, has dreamed for three years of a new skate plaza in St. Cloud. He won over Mayor Dave Kleis at a July 4 celebration and quickly earned an appointment to the board.

"He's still the best appointment I've ever made," St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis said last week, repeating his sentiment of last fall. "Austin does his homework -- and not just with the skate park. Austin's been involved with everything."I think he's a normal kid," said the teenager's mom, Charlotte. "He's had his ups and downs with ninth grade, probably because he enjoys being social more than working hard in school. He's a 14-year-old kid. He wants to be involved."

The teenager, who has full voting privileges on the board, said others on the board rarely ask him about school, or skateboarding, for that matter.

"There's nobody else under 25," he said.

"But they've been very respectful of me. I've gotten to work with the most famous skateboard site designers and architects in the nation," he said. "Then I talk to skateboarders for more ideas and suggestions."

And the benefits of all this?

"I told the mayor that we can design a safe park that will keep kids downtown," he said. "And speech has become my favorite subject in school."

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419 • plevy@startribune.com