For Jacob's senior project he chose to "introduce to Bret Harte a club called JSA, which stands for Junior States of America. I chose this because I noticed a slipping political awareness in my peers and I thought a club would be a fun way to tackle that problem." The club has an attendance of between 10 to 20 people per meeting and was approved and acknowledged as an official Bret Harte High School club in September 2012.
Jacob felt that the most difficult part of the project was the planning, as he admits to being "challenged when it comes to scheduling out events and due dates." Yet once it got off the ground, the easiest part of the project was running the meetings, "Once I am in there and they all settle down, I begin to open their eyes to what the nation and our world is going through. I feel worth in what I do when someone asks a good question because I know that they have taken what I said and become interested."
Jake with his sister and biggest supporter Athena.
His mentor is Bret Harte history teacher Jennifer Truman, the same history teacher who was recently recognized as California State VFW Teacher of the Year.
Jacob credits his family with much of his success as they support his dreams. "Whenever I come
home rambling about the stress of meeting a deadline or raising enough
money for an event, they always listen and know how to calm me back
down."
Jacob has left a lasting legacy for Bret Harte as the Junior States of America club will continue each year. In fact they are currently campaigning for President for the next school year.
When not acting politically Jacobs favorite school of study is the sciences. "I absolutely love sciences and this year I'm taking physics which has really changed how I view the world." Though he ads that his Government class is running a close second, "It is truly amazing to see these complex machines and how they work to regulate this country. It is an amazing feat and it just boggles my mind."
Hobbies are not left behind with Jacob's aspirations of being the first scientist to create a fully biodegradable plastic or fixing the political machine, as he embraces sketching, acting, and playing music. "Music is everything to me. Whenever I'm not playing it, it is in my head. There really are very few feelings better than melding with fellow musicians to create something audibly beautiful."
By,
Charity Maness
