Salado High School student Zack Shaver was awarded Congressman John Carter’s A-Lister Certificate of Special Recognition during a surprise ceremony in May, featuring his then-deployed father, via Skype.

Zack is the son of Maj. Josh Shaver, home station mission commander of 3rd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry Regiment, who was deployed to Iraq when he heard his son was being presented an award on behalf of Carter. In pure happenstance, Carter was in Iraq presenting Josh an Impact Army Achievement Medal.

“Zack Shaver certainly is an outstanding young man,” Carter said. “While his dad is deployed overseas, Zack continues to be a dedicated student with an excellent spirit that consistently impresses his teachers. When Zack was awarded the Carter A-Lister award, I was visiting our Fort Hood troops on deployment in the Middle East and had the pleasure of Skyping into the ceremony with Zack’s father from Iraq.”

The Carter A-Lister award highlights outstanding students from Texas’ 31st Congressional District because of their service to their community, academic or personal achievement or outstanding performance in extracurricular activities.

After Zack’s mother, Christie, a teacher at Salado Junior High, learned Carter was in Iraq, she coordinated with Salado High School, while her husband coordinated with Carter to present the award, all the way from Iraq.

“The timing was just remarkable, how it all came about,” said Josh, who returned home from Iraq at the end of May.

Despite having attended three different high schools, Zack is actively involved in sports and community service clubs through his school. He was a Boys State delegate in June and was only a handful of high school students invited to attend the West Point Summer Leadership Experience.

Zack, who has aspirations of attending West Point after graduation, was completely shocked by the award, but happy to have been able to share the experience with his father, who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to see him receive the award. Likewise, Josh was proud to be able to share that experience with his son.

“Sometimes we ask our wives to do a lot more than they should and it’s those moments that you miss when you’d really love to be there,” Josh said. “That’s what makes it so special.”

Zack was nominated for the award by his AP Biology teacher, Katy Leiskau, who couldn’t stress enough Zack’s work ethic.

“To me, as a teacher, what I look for in a student is that self-motivation and integral piece of hard work,” she said. “Your intelligence will only take you so far and at some point, you have to be willing to work hard and that’s what I saw in Zack.”