Jacob Barker '26 Recruiting Profile

My name is Jacob, and I'm a junior in high school wanting to learn more about machines that make the world move, specifically those in and above our atmosphere. I've swam competitively for six years now, and since my high school doesn't have a swim team I swim for my club team all year. In a normal week, we have five practices throughout the week after school that last about two hours each, and two optional morning practices before school that are one hour each. Unless I'm sick, helping my family, working on schoolwork (which isn't often), or physically not in the state, I'm at every practice. Outside of my team, I also weight lift 3-4 times a week for an hour and a half each time, again unless I'm sick or something else is going on.

In school, I am an A-honor roll student, while taking honors, AP, and college classes. In May of 2024, I took my AP Calculus AB and AP US History exams, getting a 5 and 3 respectively. This fall, I took the PSAT, SAT, and ACT, getting a 1370, 1420, and 32. I also took Calculus 2 and an Intro to Computing at UW-RF, my local Wisconsin college, getting an A in both classes. This spring, I will retake my ACT, as well as taking my AP World exam, and a Linear Algebra class at UW-RF. 

I'm working towards my state and National times in the butterfly and backstroke, my favorite strokes. If I'm at a meet and not swimming, I'm on pool deck timing or helping out where I'm needed. Last summer I got my lifeguard licence, so I help my team by being a lifeguard at our fundraisers, and this summer I plan on working at our local pool. Throughout the season I also teach swim lessons before practice, helping to prepare younger kids to join our team. If I'm not at the pool, and I'm not at school, I'm with my friends or at home, playing games and working on small projects. Recently I got a 3D printer, so I'm working on designing a car engine and gearbox. I'm also a self-taught programmer, and have been for six years. I've built all manner of programs in tons of different coding languages: websites, games, servers, and small neural networks. Programming used to be what I wanted to do in college, but now its become more of a hobby to me than a passion.