Humans of East: Jack Kessler

Freshman Jack Kessler wants to attend The United States Military Academy West Point. Through participating in several activities at East, Kessler hopes the skillsets he learns here will prepare him for the future.

Q: What started the dream of wanting to go to West Point?

“I was very interested in the military growing up and I went to a military camp where I got to experience a little bit of a military lifestyle, and I really enjoyed it. I then was doing a lot of research and learned about the academies like West Point, Naval Academy and all the other ones. I’m drawn towards the army the most. The pinnacle of joining the army would be going to West Point, getting your college paid for and being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army, so automatically going in at a very high ranking as an officer. You also get a really good education. So that’s just kind of me wanting to do the army and West Point is like the best you can do, basically.”

Q: What are you involved with at East?

“I play football in the fall. I was on the freshman team and I was a middle linebacker. One of my favorite sports that I also play is wrestling. My first year at East was kind of challenging though because with COVID-19, I wasn’t allowed to compete with my mom being very concerned with the disease. I got to practice every day, and really learn a lot from the juniors and seniors. I also am playing lacrosse for East. This is my first year of lacrosse, I play goalie. I like playing on the team and learning the position. I also do debate, which is considered a sport at East, which was really fun. My first year, I learned a lot. Those are my main sports activities. I am a part of StuCo. Currently, I’m the one of the five elected representatives for the freshman class. I want to be a sophomore Vice President next year, so I’m currently running for that. I’m also a part of SHARE, which is an organization where you can help do community service and it’s run by East kids.”

Q: Is being involved in so much at East helping you with your dream? 

“For West Point, I’ve done a lot of research and talked to a lot of people about the application process. They do it where it’s three categories they look at: leadership, athletics and your academics. They’re all equal with how much they care about each part. So basically, what they’re looking for at West Point is that you’re a very strong athlete and play multiple sports with the fact that you can manage your play on a team sport, which shows you can work well on the team, and they want to see you be a captain of a varsity team. So those are my goals with playing sports. And then, as far as academics go, you have to have a score of 30 on the ACT and have a 4.0 GPA. So that’s what my main focus is on: academics. They want to see you challenging yourself with academics by taking AP classes and honors courses, then they want to see,leadership and people recognizing you for leaderships outside of just sports. So after StuCo comes in, just showing that I was elected out of my peers to have a leadership position.”

Q: Is it going to take a lot of work to accomplish your dream?

“It’s only my freshman year, and it’s four years out and it certainly feels like yeah, definitely physical work now. It’s just going to become more and more work as I’m getting closer to it. But I think the main thing is just juggling all my different activities. And yeah, I think that it’s going to be difficult, to just maintain my grades with all my activities.”

Q: Will all of this work be worth it if you get in?

“If I make it, for sure. Also, like what I’m doing now with the West Point application, like the resume I’ll be sending to West Point, you can send out to the Ivy League schools like that 30 on the ACT is good. That’s where you get to be considered for an Ivy League school, so like, even if I don’t get into West Point, I can send that resume out to a lot of other competitive colleges. But West Point is my main goal for sure.”