Ben Betts said that being in the top 10 of his class at Boothbay Region High School didn't come as a complete surprise.

When he was a freshman, he didn't think he would be. “But in the last year or so we all started getting competitive,” he said.

Betts will be heading to Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., to study music and psychology. “Music has been an interest all my life, and I'm also interested in psychology. So I'm hoping to pair the two and make something of that.”

He decided on Hampshire for its innovative approach to education. The college encourages students to design their own program of study, rather than choose a major. “They take your interests and build a major from that,” he said.

Betts has given guitar lessons for income. His one “real” job was to play steel drums at Rocktide for happy hour. He said he'll do that again this summer.

Growing up in a musical family, Betts learned to play different instruments at an early age. “I play quite a few. I started out playing the drums, and then guitar, and once you know guitar it's pretty easy to learn the ukulele ... You start to recognize the whole music theory, and it becomes easy to learn one from another.”

Brad, Betts' father, taught him guitar and how to sing. He also plays with a group of his friends from high school, and encouraged the other members in the group to learn to play several different instruments.

Other than music, Betts' interests include sailing and tennis. English teacher and tennis coach Mark Gorey has been a positive influence for him. “I've learned a lot, not just about English or tennis, but his English class includes politics and history,” Betts said. “I feel like I thrive in his class.”

Betts lives in East Boothbay with his mother, Danielle, his father, and younger brother Sam, a freshman. He said he'll miss the small community he grew up in, his parents and grandparents, and his brother. “Especially Sammy,” he said.