Class Acts: Vernon Hills' Liu one sharp kid

In many ways, Josh Liu has been extraordinary in high school.

The Vernon Hills senior has only once gotten a grade less than an A in four years of taking honors and AP classes.

"I got a B my freshman year in literature class," Liu said. "My parents said, 'You better not make that a trend.' "

He didn't, of course. He also didn't mess around with the ACT. He aced that with a perfect score of 36. He nearly aced the SAT, too, with a 1590 out of 1600.

Extraordinary.

But every now and then, Liu, who is carrying a 4.588 grade point average with six advanced placement classes, can be just your everyday, ordinary high school kid, too.

"Josh is smart as a whip, and he just picks up things like no one else does," said Matt McCarty, Liu's basketball coach at Vernon Hills. "But, like any athlete, Josh will forget a play every once in awhile.

"That's when we'll tease him. We'll be like, 'Josh, if anyone is going to forget a play, how can it be you?' His resume in the classroom is something else, and that almost always shows on the court. It's been a real pleasure to coach that type of player."

So for McCarty, it was a no-brainer to nominate Liu for the IHSA Academic All-State team, and Liu, who plays both basketball and baseball at Vernon Hills, recently learned he earned a spot on the 2020 team.

Liu is the ninth student in the 20-year history of Vernon Hills High School to be named to the academic all-state team.

"Academic all-state is such a hard team to make, but when our athletic director asked if I would like to nominate someone, Josh came right to mind," McCarty said. "I've never had him in class, but I've heard stories from other kids about how smart he is, how sharp he is.

"And with basketball, a big part of our success was because of Josh. He is a 3-point shooting kid who plays really aggressive defense and gets a lot of steals for us."

McCarty also liked what Liu did off the court for the Cougars.

"There were times when Josh played a bunch for us, but there were times when I bet he wishes he played more. But there was never any bad body language from Josh. The only thing that mattered to him was if we won. You'd see him on the bench, cheering for his teammates, being positive. He was a role model with how he handled himself."

Liu, a 5-foot-8 guard, scored a career-high 21 points last year in a game against Northside in which he had 7 3-pointers as a reserve off the bench.

His best game this year as a starter was when Vernon Hills upset Deerfield at home and he scored 13 points.

As a sophomore, Liu made the varsity baseball team and played second base. But he broke his finger and missed much of the season. He had an up-and-down junior year and was really looking forward to a productive senior season after showing well last summer with his travel baseball team.

But the COVID-19 pandemic altered those plans and Liu never got his final baseball season.

"It's been frustrating, especially for the seniors," Liu said. "I was really looking forward to this year."

But Liu, who also plays the saxophone and piano and is on the math team, is trying to look on the bright side. He has some really good opportunities in front of him. He's been accepted to both Brown and Cornell and is trying to decide between the two for computer science.

"I know that a lot of people have it way worse than me because of this (COVID-19). A lot of people are really suffering," Liu said. "Sports is just one part of my life. I'm trying to keep looking at everything as a glass half full."