Feeling the rush of the sub-60 degree water through his ScubaPro bodysuit, Jack Dawson (’19) dives deep underwater under the slow-crashing waves of the Monterey Bay, contemplating which direction to go explore with his diving partner. Typically, he’s known for being a rowdy presence on campus, often causing a ruckus in the halls of Shah or in the classroom.

“I first started diving just because there wasn’t much else to do outdoors. I was in the Cayman Islands with my family over summer break when I was in fourth grade. My dad, stepmom, and stepbrother dove a bit during the trip.” Jack said. “So everybody was diving and I was just kind of sitting there like snorkeling and there was nothing to do. So, I decided to get my license because the rest of my family dove as well.”

From there, his diving career temporarily stopped until his freshman year of high school, when his love of diving was re-ignited.

“I started again in freshman year of high school. I started getting my advanced open water certificate, so that I could dive to 60 feet. I also had to do a little bit of like chemistry and learn about pressure and peoples’ bodies and whatever happens with nitrogen gas and all that.” Jack said. “And I did that in 9th and 10th grade. And what I learned from that class was that there’s a lot of people who really, they have certifications but they really don’t really know anything still.”

After this, he continued to move up in the ranks of the diving ladder, gaining his rescue diver and master certification, which allowed him to dive in the worst of conditions and submit the data he collects on his journeys to research institutes around the country.

“Over the summer, I had a week of class work where we had to get to Monterey at eight, so I’m waking up at like 5:30 in the morning and then I’m driving and I’m getting [to class] at 7:30 for about a week or so. That [class] was just chemistry, physics, and gas exchanges.” said Jack. “Then the next week was really fun. We went down to big Sur and we actually camped out and brought all our stuff with us and brought air compressors to refill our scuba tanks. We camped next to a stream and we brought all our own food with us and I had no no Wifi or electricity for a week.”

Similar to starting diving, Jack has always wanted to pursue activities outside of his comfort zone. He started playing soccer in his senior year, after playing on the baseball team for three years.

“I think the diving thing really relates to this idea that I’ve just started trying to broaden myself a little bit. I’m always trying to look for activities or other interesting exotic things that make me stand out. And I think that trying new things and doing new things and exploring new avenues like starting soccer this year.” Jack said. “I suck at soccer; I’m not very good compared to the other players. But it’s kind of fun. It’s fun to kind of suck.”

This free-spirited attitude carries over into other aspects of his life, such as with his friends, where he often talks freely without worrying about what other people think of him.

“When I or other people actually think of Jack, I think of him as a pretty sociable person. He’s good in like both big crowds and small crowds alike.” Dilara Ezer (’19), longtime friend of Jack said. “He can pretty much make conversation about everything too because he knows a lot about a lot of things, which makes him really easy to talk to. As a result, he gets her along with a bunch of like, different people really easily.”

“It’s fun to not care about something and just do it for the fun of it, which we don’t really get to do much at Harker. I find that these extracurricular activities like diving, soccer or even games like League of Legends are really fun to do in my free time. It’s good to just have some fun once in a while. And I think exploring new ways to do this is really, really valuable.”