Baseball is Nicholas (Nick) Jacks’ game.
Jacks is a rising senior at Coral Gables High School and is a pitcher with an unusual pitching style. He is tall – 6 feet, 6 inches — and is good enough that he has talked to Stanford and the University of Miami about playing for them.
He taught himself his unusual side arm pitch. He felt he needed to do something different because he didn’t throw hard enough to be noticed by colleges.
However, he had a coach last year that changed the way he threw. That led to a down spot in his spring season.
“Even when I went back, it wasn’t the same. I guess I had changed my muscle memory,” he said.
So, he refreshed his mechanics and is doing well again.
Baseball is not his only strength. He is good in science and is doing research at the University of Miami with a biophysicist.
Most athletes don’t have time for community service, but Jacks already has logged more than 1,000 hours. Some of those hours came from being on the board of the Science Honor Society. The group is fundraising to buy prosthetic limbs to donate.
“We are looking to donate 10,” he said. “One limb is $300. Our teacher will be purchasing the limbs and donating them to the hospital.”
Math is another strong subject for him. He participates in math competitions through Mu Alpha Theta.
“Now that I have calculus under my belt, I’ll be participating my senior year,” Jacks said.
He is a member of the International Baccalaureate Honor Society. He has helped out on three Bridge for Peace events doing setup and food service.
Jacks is planning his IB service project. He wants to collect toys and books for children and then he will build the bookcases to house the donations. He hopes to accomplish his project by the end of August.
In college, he would like to minor in math and major in aerospace engineering.
“I would like to design rockets,” he said.
— Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
