Coaxing Joshua Drouin to discuss his achievements can be a difficult task. Although he has a long list of accomplishments, the Graves County High School senior prefers to keep them to himself. He’s not shy; he’s just humble.

“Any time I win an accomplishment or do successfully on a test in class, I don’t want to brag about it. I don’t want to flaunt it, because I know that I need to have integrity,” Drouin said.

For Drouin, integrity is crucial. He believes he’ll need it when he pursues a career in law, and tries to incorporate the trait into his daily life. The student said that having integrity requires an ability to look objectively at oneself. People with this trait don’t harm others, and correct themselves when they realize they’re wrong, Drouin said.

Joshua Drouin, son of Norma Pruitt and David Drouin, is the Mid-Continent University Teen of the Week. Each Monday, the Sun features a different MCU Teen of the Week selected from nominees whom guidance counselors throughout western Kentucky and southern Illinois submit to the Sun. Mid-Continent University will provide each Teen of the Week with a $2,500 annual scholarship to its university, which is renewable for four years. In the spring, a Teen of the Year will be chosen from the weekly winners. The Teen of the Year is eligible for a full four-year scholarship to Mid-Continent University or a cash award of $2,500, paid through the Paducah Sun, if the student selects another college to attend.

Drouin may keep mum about his achievements — which include maintaining a 4.2 grade-point average, serving as a page for the Kentucky State Senate, and participating in the Governor’s Scholars Program — but he’ll open up about his passions. He said he’s been a part of the orchestra program at Graves County High School for the past six years. He started by playing the violin, and later took up the viola. In the past two years, his love for music led him to participate in the University Community Symphony at Murray State University.

Drouin has also established a student string quartet and quintet to perform at various events and competitions, including a Christmas fundraiser at Fulton City Schools. He said playing with a smaller group of musicians has its rewards — most notably, a more intimate, fine-tuned experience — but that he enjoys playing in any setting.

“(Music) allows me to just show other people the wonder. I see family, and I see friends, and I just see them smile when music is being played. Being able to make people smile is all anyone wants to do,” he said. “It’s a love that I do not want to let die.”

Computer science also numbers among Drouin’s passions. He serves as student webmaster for his school, a job that involves maintaining the school’s websites and generating and revising web pages. Along with his current coursework in computer science, Drouin said this may come in handy as he pursues his law career.

“If I want to, say, be a lawyer for a computer firm, or a programming firm ... I’d understand their workings a little better,” he said.

He is motivated to succeed in so many different areas, Drouin said, and enjoys success for its own sake. He doesn’t measure success in terms of awards or recognition, but rather by how much adversity was overcome to achieve it.

“Adversity could be anything, from getting up in the morning, for some people, to going to bed, for others. (Success) is just being able to overstep those things you think are limits, and to surpass those things that you think hold you back,” he said.

Contact Laurel Black, a Paducah Sun staff writer, at 270-575-8641 or follow @LaurelFBlack on Twitter.