Junior Jake Woodside splits his time between running the Science National Honor Society (SNHS), playing tennis and challenging himself academically at Mountain Vista Governor’s School (MVGS).

Woodside restarted the club this school year with the help of science teacher Debbie Fisher, who serves as the sponsor for the club. “I had a class with her, and she spoke about Science NHS
and how they did it in previous years and how much fun it was. She made me want to restart it,” said Woodside.

Woodside describes his responsibilities as SNHS President, saying, “I’m in charge of coordinating the other members [and] overseeing what they do. I talk with [Fisher] and formulate what we want to do, when the meetings should be [and] what our schedule should be. I have a lot of responsibility of just organizing the club and making sure we actually are a club and get to do things.”

Woodside states that it can be “a little bit [stressful] sometimes,” to be President of the club in addition to managing his other responsibilities. He emphasizes that the support that he receives from others makes things less stressful for him, saying, “I have a great Vice President and Officers, and Mrs. Fisher also helps a lot.”

Woodside has played tennis for 12 years, but states that he has been serious about the sport for four. “I was introduced to tennis at a young age and took a liking to it,” said Woodside. He cites his coach as being his biggest role model in the sport. Woodside also states that he is interested in continuing to play tennis after high school.

Woodside says that he was originally interested in applying for MVGS because it provides “an accelerated STEM program” and “it is that looks good on college applications.” He describes specific benefits that MVGS has awarded him, saying that it has provided him with “problem-solving skills and good study habits.” Woodside highly recommends the program to other students, but states that a downside to the program is an “intense workload [that] can interfere with other aspects of life.”

In the future, Woodside would like to go to college to major in Aerospace Engineering and Astrophysics. “I plan on applying to the astronaut training program,” said Woodside. Woodside describes his interest in this field saying, “I have always been fascinated with space and wish to pursue it wholeheartedly.”

While managing his duties as President of SNHS, playing tennis and taking difficult courses at Mountain Vista Governor’s School, Woodside emphasizes the importance of planning in order to stay on top of all of his responsibilities. He says, “It’s really important that you have a plan, even if it’s not written down. I just have a mental plan of what I want to do and when I want to do it all the time… that really helps with the stress of it and making sure that everything gets done.”