Senior, Jacob Lopez, has always been an active volunteer in his schools. He is 16 years old, a year ahead after skipping first grade. His sister, who was in Student Council, inspired him to be so involved. He became a more active participant in our school in his junior year, with the goal of leaving a better impact on Sahuaro. He is currently involved in Student Council as senior class treasurer, soccer as a center back/midfielder and captain, our Cougar Link Crew as their president, and FCA as the treasurer.
Soccer is a huge part of Jacob’s life – he plays both on Sahuaro’s team and his club team, RSL. His father played soccer when he was younger, so his parents had him follow in his Dad’s footsteps, starting him off in the sport when he was three. “I took two years off when I was younger, but other than that I’ve been playing soccer my whole life.”
The only other big break that Jacob took from soccer was after tearing his ACL during a game his junior year. “You always see people wearing braces or casts, but you never think that something like that would happen to you. So I just took soccer and being able to move for granted. All of the sudden I went from being able to sprint, move, cut – do all the athletic things, to having to walk like a pirate with a brace on. I think I learned patience because no matter how much work I put into it, there’s still a time aspect. I couldn’t just train hard for 3 weeks and have it go away, I was sidelined for at least 6 months, just lucky to come back as quick as I could.”
In high school soccer, Jacob wears jersey number 2 – the same that his father wore when he played soccer, and his sister, Ava, in volleyball, so it is a very important number to him. He says he has high hopes for this year’s soccer team, and he wants to make it to playoffs to end his senior year off strong.
Math has always come easy to Jacob so he wants to study engineering – hopefully at MIT. At first, he just wanted to do it for the money, but after taking some of the science and engineering classes offered at Sahuaro, he realized that there’s a lot more to the engineering world than he thought. “This is going to be the next generation of technology…I would have an impact on the world,” Jacob said.
Jacob’s job plan is to work for NASA, Raytheon, or another company specializing in advanced technology and engineering, or space exploration. He wants to start his own business but also has a dream to become a firefighter on the side. His plans entail following his sister to the University of Arizona to study aerospace engineering or business.
Even though Jacob is one of the busiest people on campus, he still tries to hang out and relax. Now that pre-season soccer has started, it’s gotten harder to stand on two feet and balance academics, but he manages it the best he can.
Sahuaro teachers Mrs. Grasso, Mr. Davis, and Dr. Collingwood were people that particularly impacted his high school career. They helped him realize that there is much more you can learn beyond a school classroom. He was able to learn more and more through different events outside.
Jacob stands as an inspiration for many of his peers around him, spurring people to get more involved in the school, and inspiring others to follow in his lead. He helped our school grow in the extra-curricular areas, and many people now participate in our school’s activities because they want to be wherever Jacob is.
