'Heart Of Gold' Santa Monica Teen Juggles Soccer, School and Support

SANTA MONICA, CA — Straight-A's, soccer and supporting his community all fit into a typical day for Santa Monica High School freshman Khaelan Zeitlin.

At the end of 2022, Khaelan was wrapping up his first semester in high school while also contributing to local charities like Adopt a Letter To Santa, which helps deliver presents to underprivileged children and teens, and Shoes for the Homeless, where he collected 100 pairs of shoes for unhoused people in Santa Monica.

To Khaelan, his extracurriculars and doing his best for the people around him are what really matters to him, despite how busy it gets sometimes.

"At some points I might be stressed out, but most of the time I'm not," Khaelan said. "I just try to keep my mind off of some things."

A fun way Khaelan likes to keep his mind occupied in stressful times is by playing soccer on his school team, where he is a starter on the Junior Varsity team, and on his National Premier League FC England Club Soccer team, where he is captain of the team.

Khaelan recently started playing as a midfield player on his team, and though he isn't too fond of the copious amounts of running he has to do during training he gets really "pumped up" when his work pays off in a game.

"It just kind of pumps me up and running around and playing with my friends against other people and everything like in heated matches all of that is just so much fun," Khaelan said.

Paul Spacey, Khaelan's soccer coach of five years, said he respects and admires the way Khaelan conducts himself on and off the field.

"Khaelan is not only an unbelievable athlete and very strong soccer player but more importantly, he is selfless, kind and a young man of great character," Spacey said. "He is an example of how you can balance being a great athlete with being a great student and also having equally fantastic character off the field."

Khaelan's mother, Carla Zeitlin said she is proud of all the work Khaelan puts into his studies and helping the community. Zeitlin said even when her son was young he was always passionate about wanting to help the homeless, sometimes going to hand out water and pizza to homeless people in Reed Park.

To his mom, seeing Khaelan work hard on the three different aspects of his life — school, sports and giving back — excites her and she loves being his biggest fan.

"He's got a heart of gold. I know he's my son, but he's always been a giver," Zeitlin said. "He's like that loyal, sweetest friend everybody should have."