Kyle Bishop took part Friday in the kind of field trip that has become a springtime ritual at high schools.

It was one most authorities and instructors, though they may not admit it, both acknowledge and accept.

“It’s senior ditch day,” said Bishop, 18. “We just left Highline back to my house. We just hung out up there, sat at the campfire, threw around the football.”

Several high schoolers camped out at Highline Lake and Island Acres on Thursday night and into Friday for the tradition.

For Bishop, it would be his last of many field trips before graduation, most of which have been science-related trips.

At another recent field trip as an aide for the honors biology class at Central High School, Bishop chaperoned and helped set up a scavenger hunt for younger students who were studying ecology at the Denver Zoo and the Aquarium in Denver.

“He plans to intern during the summer at Clifton Water (Department) to further his science and water quality knowledge,” said his chemistry teacher, Summer Jones, who nominated Bishop as Student of the Week. “Kyle has a genuine interest in science. He is a positive role model and is dedicated to his studies.”

His leadership of others in science has also led to his being a role model in other branches of academics.

Helping tutor fellow students is the main activity Bishop said has most defined him as a student.

He worked through his senior year tutoring math — from algebra to precalculus — with Pat Kanda, who works at Grand Valley Power. Kanda helps run the tutoring program on Mondays and Wednesdays.

“It was fun to have them bring test scores in and see an ‘A’ on their papers and know I was actually making a difference,” Bishop said.

Bishop plans to major in engineering at Colorado State University.

“I’m more into the biology side of science,” Bishop said. “I’ll always have my background knowledge in science later in life if I decide to do something else instead of engineering.”

Until school starts this fall, Bishop will continue learning as he works through his summer internship, finding out what goes into water filtration and distribution through Clifton Water Department.

“The distribution part of Clifton water is dealing with mathematics — the length of pipes, how many gallons per minute, how a meter can push through it — that’s more mathematical. The filter plant is more of a chemistry.

“There’s so much going on there at so many different times — it will give me an insight into management,” he said. “It’ll give me life lessons for later on.”

Bishop lists his father, Jeff Bishop, as his personal hero.

“He’s a welder part time,” Bishop said. “He has always let me help him out in the shop building things. It’s been a really good thing for bonding.”

“Kyle is liked by both his teachers and his peers,” Jones said. “He’s willing to help his fellow classmates with difficult to understand material.”

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E-mail Anna Maria Basquez at abasquez@gjds.com.