Swimming, soccer, studying, working and serving with his church youth group. A wide variety of activities occupy most of David E. Whiting's time.

The 17-year-old Warwick High School junior began swimming competitively a decade ago.

He started in the summer swimming program at the Lititz Springs Pool when he was 7 and has continued competing there ever since.

He first took to the pool for Warwick's swim team as a sophomore, competing last year and this year in the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard medley relay.

"I went to leagues for those two events," he said, although he did not qualify for districts at that competition, held in February.

He plans to continue swimming through his senior year.

"It's fun," said Whiting, who enjoys the camaraderie with fellow swimmers.

Whiting also has put his pool prowess to use by working as a lifeguard at Lititz Springs and also at the Lititz Recreation Center. He plans to continue both jobs through next summer.

His older sister, Kate, has worked at both places as a lifeguard, and his younger sister, Rebecca, is taking lifeguard training now. (He also has a third sister, Suzanna.)

While the job can seem easy, "there's a lot of pressure," he said.

Whiting has a third job, working for Centerville Lawn & Landscape of Lititz. In the spring and fall, he mows and mulches. He does snow removal in the winter, which kept him busy this year.

Whiting has played soccer in a Lititz travel league since he was 7, in addition to playing on the junior high team through ninth grade. He didn't play as a sophomore, but he joined the team this past fall, playing mostly defense. He hopes to play as a senior.

Whiting also has taken part in junior high track through ninth grade and participated on the high school team as a sophomore, competing in the 200-meter run and pole vault.

This spring, however, he's unsure about track as he plans to try out for the volleyball team.

Whiting, a good student who enjoys science, is tackling two advanced placement classes this year: biology and world history. He also is taking pre-calculus, honors English, Spanish and architectural studies.

Architecture or engineering are possible career fields, although at this point, "I'm not really sure." He is just beginning to look into colleges, primarily in Pennsylvania.

Whiting is involved with the youth group at Lancaster Evangelical Free Church of Lititz, where he serves as a junior high youth leader during Tuesday night meetings. He also helps run sound for the musical group that plays every other week.

Through youth group, Whiting has volunteered during three summers at Reach work camps, working on homes in North Carolina, West Virginia and New York.

Whiting had the chance to travel to Uganda last summer with the youth group. The group spent two and a half weeks in and around Kampala, building a house for a widow, helping with a water sanitation project and visiting an orphanage and schools to deliver blankets and sports equipment and talk to students about such subjects as abstinence and AIDS prevention.

It was an eye-opening experience.

"I guess it gave me a better perspective of other people and what they have compared to what I have," he said.

But the trip wasn't all serious. Whiting also got to go whitewater rafting on the Nile.

"It was quite fun," he said.

Whiting is the son of Ron and Rhonda Whiting. He and his parents and three sisters live in Lititz.