Kijana Effs of Dallas so far is first in East Paulding’s class of 2014 after finishing last year with a 4.0 grade point average.

While the outstanding student is taking six honors of advanced placement classes this year, he is most excited about participating in the marching band.

The 16-year-old Effs, son of Soraiya and Ralston Effs, is center snare on East Paulding’s drumline, but he didn’t start out as a percussionist.

“I played saxophone until last year, when my band director wanted me to try percussion,” Effs said. “I had never played drums before.”

The junior started playing drums last winter as a part of Indoor Drumline, a school-sponsored winter drumline which participates in competitions outside of football season.

The marching band’s theme for football season is “The Unconquered.”

“It centers around a Native American tribe that was able to withstand all of the colonists,” Effs said. “It’s really cool, actually.”

As for college, Effs said he is still unsure of what direction he would like to go in, but said science is his favorite subject in school. He is taking honors physics and A.P. chemistry this year.

“Science is my hardest, but my favorite subject,” he said. “Well, it’s a close tie with math.”

Effs is also taking accelerated math 3 this year.

The musician said his goal is to stay at the top of his class and graduate as valedictorian.

“My goals are to just keep going forward,” Effs said. “When everything’s bogging me down, I get no sleep, but I just gotta keep going. It’s going to be hard, though.”