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closeJunior high student has leadership written all over him
By Neil Pierson/of The Herald
While the majority of Puyallup School District students enjoyed their recent spring breaks close to home, Kalles Junior High School student Jake Johnston was traipsing around the nation’s capital and learning the real meanings of leadership.
Johnston, a seventh-grader at the downtown Puyallup school, was one of a few hundred students from around the globe who participated in the People to People World Leadership Forum, a week-long event for students in grades 5 through 8 that takes place in Washington, D.C.
The students were part of a whirlwind of activities, from sightseeing trips to various monuments and museums to chats with various congressmen and retired astronaut Roger Crouch.
“He’s definitely a critical thinker and he has excellent character,” said Franks, who taught Johnston during his fifth- and sixth-grade years. “He’s really able to see the world from multiple perspectives.”
Johnston was part of Quest, the school district’s gifted program for elementary students, during his time at Meeker.
He transitioned this year into the junior high version, the Puyallup Accelerated Gifted Education (PAGE) program, and believes he’s benefiting from it.
“It really challenges me to try harder,” Johnston said of the PAGE program. “If I were to be in regular classes it would be a lot harder to focus.”
Along with listening to a speech from Crouch, who logged more than 470 hours in space, Johnston said his favorite part of the forum was visiting one of the many Civil War battlefields in the area.
“It was really interesting to see the strategies that they used to win the war and it was interesting to see how they fought without the technology we have today,” he said.
Johnston is more than just a gifted student.
He’s also a musician, having played the trombone for three years and guitar for seven years.
But his true passion might be soccer, which he has been playing since the age of 2. He’s now a goalkeeper in the Washington Premier Football Club program and was recently selected to the state’s Olympic development team.
“Being a goalkeeper is pretty much being the leader of the team,” he said. “It’s a lot of pressure but if you follow through with it, it makes you feel good.”
Franks began nominating students for the People to People program three years ago and Johnston is the third child from her class who has earned a spot.
She was initially hesitant about the forum because she doesn’t like giving out her students’ information.
“When I found out it was started by President (Dwight) Eisenhower, I thought that was really interesting” she said.
Johnston seemed to be a natural choice because of his ability to speak critically but respectfully, Franks added.
“If we’re talking about world events and somebody gets an opinion, he can argue the other side very easily,” she said. “I knew he would take (the forum) seriously.”