Linn-Mar senior Alexy Boehm got an early start in soccer when he began playing the game when he was just 4 years old.

Now he plans to get an early start on his college soccer career as well.

Boehm plans to graduate from Linn-Mar High School in December and enroll at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., in January for the start of the new semester as a college freshman.

An excellent student with a 3.57 GPA, Boehm said he will be getting financial aid from George Washington for athletics and academics. He committed to GWU in August and decided it would be a good idea to get an early start in college.

"I committed to a college pretty far away from home and going there early will give me a head-start above the other freshmen to get my classes settled, knowing the layout of the campus, getting to know the team early," he said.

Linn-Mar won the Class 3A state title last season with Boehm playing a prominent role on defense. He would have enjoyed trying to win another state crown with the Lions, but the tug for college was too strong.

"I was thinking about that," he said. "I think we have a good chance of winning it again this year, but I feel like I'd like to pursue the next step in my soccer career.

"I've been playing soccer since I was 4," he said. "For a long time, my goal has been to play Division I soccer and I just can't wait to play."

George Washington University won the Atlantic 10 Conference title this year. Boehm got to see them play in St. Louis this past Saturday, whetting his appetite even more to join them.

The current academic term at Linn-Mar does not end until mid-January, but Boehm plans to be in Washington by then. The new semester at George Washington University begins Jan. 11 and he plans to be there by Jan. 7 to get settled.

George Washington University needs his final high school transcript by Dec. 22, so consequently he'll have to take his final exams at Linn-Mar and finish classes several weeks before the rest of his classmates.

In addition to his classes at Linn-Mar, he's currently taking two classes at Kirkwood Community College. He said he's on course to finish all of his academic work on time.

"It wasn't terribly hard for me," he said. "My parents helped a lot with the process, but I had a lot of my credits already done coming into my senior year.

"Yeah, I'm a pretty good student, I guess you could say."

Boehm will celebrate his 18th birthday this Sunday. He and his two brothers were adopted from Russia when he was 2 years old and the family was living in Pittsburgh. They moved to Iowa for his freshman year of high school.

The family has visited Washington, D.C., many times for vacations and soccer tournaments.

"I love Washington, D.C.," he said. "It's always been one of my most favorite places. I love history and all that kind of stuff."

Boehm has already toured quite a bit of the main attractions in the nation's capital and the surrounding area.

"Pretty much everything except the White House," he said. "My parents applied and they said we were getting tickets for a tour there in January when we go. That's exciting."

Boehm, who was also the place-kicker the past two seasons for the Linn-Mar football team, said he might like to study political science in college, but is not sure yet.