His passion for becoming an educator was solidified last fall, when he attended a music-education seminar in which flutist and conductor Abel Delgado talked about serving as executive director for The Harmony Project, a non-profit organization that continues to offer music education to underserved children in Los Angeles.

“It’s not just about handing them a trumpet and telling them to play,” Whitworth said. “Through rehearsal, they learn people skills, the importance of working together, punctuality. I can help enrich people’s lives through that.”

Whitworth describes himself as an outgoing and talkative but at the same time laid back.

“Some of my friends might say I’m an overachiever,” he added.

“I think I got my sense of humor from my Dad,” said Whitworth, who is the grandson of Robert and Hilda Whitworth and the late James and Kathleen Turner.

In addition to music and literary analysis, Whitworth enjoys Community Theater and award-winning movies, particularly those directed by Tim Burton.

“If it’s creative, I like it,” he said.

His zeal for study and his love of music sprang mainly from home.

“It came from my family, especially English,” he said. “I was always read to, and although my parents don’t play instruments, the house was never without music.”

His older sister, Brandy Keeton, is a marching band veteran. She played the trumpet, served as a high school majorette, and was a Crimsonette for The Million Dollar Band. So, big sister can probably give little brother, even one who’s a National Merit Scholar, a few pointers on college life.