One of the perks of having an office in San Diego is that our staff gets to surf in their downtime. Adam Finck, our Director of Programs for Central Africa and resident surf guru saw a Future Fins ad featuring two-time National Championship and two-time West Coast Championship surfer, John Mel, repping KONY 2012 on his board. We were super excited to get the chance to catch up with John recently and discuss (among other things) surfing, Kony, and sharks.

At 12 years old, John has already been surfing for six years and is at the top of his division at the 2011 National Scholastic Surfing Association’s (NSSA) West Coast Championships.

The 2011 Under-12 Division US Champion surfer is just like any other teenager – we quizzed him just to make sure. We found out he likes to skateboard when he’s not in the water, hang out with his friends and still has to do homework. For at least two hours a day, everyday, he gets in the water and surfs. This is impressive since when we were 12, we had no such dedication (except to hone our video game skills, obviously). He is the son of  professional surfer and Big Wave World Champion Peter Mel, which makes the surfers in our office even more giddy with excitement. And in case you were wondering, we asked John if he was scared of sharks, and he’s not.

John first heard about Invisible Children after watching KONY 2012. He said he was so touched, that he immediately adorned his board. We couldn’t be more honored that he did.

See him next at the 2012 NSAA National Championships in Huntington Beach, CA. We’ll definitely be cheering him on from the coast.

-Monica