The San Marcos community is mourning the loss of a beloved son and soldier killed in Afghanistan January 19th by a roadside bomb.
Captain Paul W. Pena, 27, attended the San Marcos Baptist Academy from the 7th through the 12th grade and was a stand out student who was voted "most likely to succeed" by his peers.
"He was a great kid, very smart. I had him in Advanced Physics and my memories are that he was always one that as soon as I would tell him to learn a formula he would have his calculator out programming a short cut on how to do it.", said Colonel Max Smith, an Army retiree who teaches at the San Marcos Baptist Academy.
Smith taught Pena in several classes and said he was a teacher's dream student.
"Paul was one of those great, ideal students as respectful, nothing but a "yes sir", "yes ma'am" always having a good, wonderful spirit about him", added Colonel Smith.
Pena graduated from the San Marcos Baptist Academy in 2000 and was accepted into the West Point Military Academy where he graduated in 2004.
Pena's mother Cecilia is a teacher in Kyle.
There's no word yet on when or where Pena's funeral will be held.
