Jack Bunte: Will postpone college for a year to explore different hobbies, seeing which one suits him the best

Car mechanics, tattoo artistry, skateboarding, judo, jujitsu, basketball, tennis, guitar — the list goes on. These are just a few of the things that senior Jack Bunte plans to explore during his gap year, postponing trade school to fully indulge himself in these and any other subjects that interest him.

“I want to at least try all these activities that I’m interested in because I’m young, and this is when I’m going to have the freedom to explore and see what I enjoy doing,” Bunte said. 

When Bunte first discussed postponing school and instead experimenting with different activities to find a passion, his family was skeptical of the unique path Bunte elected to forge compared to his two bothers, seniors Max and Henry Bunte, who are attending the University of Missouri – Kansas City in the fall. 

One of his main goals during the year is to pursue music. Bunte found an acoustic guitar thrift shopping a few months ago and quickly added guitar lessons to his list. With his father’s ceiling-high CD collection and his brother Max’s spontaneous songwriting and performances in the living room, Bunte figured exploring music would be a way to further interests already existent in his family.

He’s also jumping back into his childhood hobbies of jujitsu and skateboarding. He was no prodigy when he was young, but is working to expand on those existing skills and avenge his fourth grade mediocrity. 

Bunte has been on the wrestling team throughout high school, and believes that those skills will easily transfer over to jujitsu, making it not too difficult to pick back up after having not set foot into the dojo since elementary school. 

As well as building on his jujitsu and skateboarding skills, Bunte’s planning on taking up basketball and tennis. He’s become a member of Genesis Health Club, where he’ll take lessons in both of the sports to nail down his form and learn how to expertly play the two sports, along with practicing drawing and taking classes to pursue tattoo artistry.

“I think it’s just important to stay busy, and just have hobbies and have stuff that you like doing and enjoy doing,” Bunte said. “It’s really simple as that.” 

He still has intents of going to trade school to become a mechanic after his gap year, but he wants to find a position where he can learn the specifics of car mechanics as he goes. 

“If I don’t enjoy any of these things, I’m just going to stop doing them because I don’t have the time to do things that don’t make me happy,” Bunte said.