A Senior Profile: Jack Quinn | Reading
To the Reading community, Jack Quinn is a nice, hardworking, and helpful person. In his previous years, he attended Sawyer Preschool, J. Warren Killam Elementary School, Arthur W. Coolidge Middle School, and finally Reading Memorial High School.
Jack shared, “I would like to think of myself as someone who brings people in the school together. I try to do this through ski club and sports where all grade levels are represented.”
Jack shared that his most exciting memory was from track. He notes, “The junior year track meet against Lexington outdoors when Ryan Wallace came back in the two mile. The meet was very close and it was coming down to the two mile, high jump, and relays and Ryan was in fourth place with a couple laps to go. He ended up coming back to score for us and helped to win the meet by a small margin. That meet was extremely exciting and showed me why track is such an awesome sport as the whole team came together to watch the two mile, an event that is usually considered incredibly boring.”
Jack has been involved with Best Buddies since Freshman year. During his junior year Jack and Ally Clarkson founded Ski Club and are still running it during their senior year with Connor Gorski as their Vice President.
For sports, Jack played Hockey during his freshman year for the JV Hockey team and played during his sophomore year for the Varsity Hockey team. He started outdoor track during his sophomore year and started cross country and indoor track during his junior year. He is now the captain of the Cross Country team for this fall and the captain of the indoor and outdoor track teams where he runs middle to long distance.
With Jack’s consistent hard work, he was an Honor Roll student for all four years and a High Honor Roll student during his Junior and Senior years. He was also awarded the Boston College Book Award. For this year, Jack’s classes include Honors Journalism, Honors Horror, AP Calculus BC, AP French, AP Computer Science, and AP Physics C. Jack also shared that his past favorite courses are AP Physics 1 taught by Mr. McIntire, AP Stats taught by Mr. Skehan, and Honors Algebra 2 taught by Mrs. Shea.
Throughout his high school career, Jack shared there were three classes that influenced his development.
He states, “Mr. McIntire’s AP Physics 1 class made me fall in love with physics. He is a terrific teacher and does an awesome job making classes interesting and not discouraging. Mr. Skehan has grown my interest in math a ton over the past two years. He makes the class interesting by explaining why everything works and not just telling us that it does work, and I find that makes learning so much more rewarding. Mrs. Shea is a teacher who has had a huge influence on my development. We originally started the Ski Club with her and she worked so hard to make everything work out with it. I remember staying after school working with her on the Ski Club, as well as just talking about past RMHS experiences. I appreciate everything she did for the club and myself, and wish her the best in retirement!”
Jack also wants to share some thanks to some special people. He said, “I would like to thank my grandparents on both my mom and dad’s sides. I am lucky enough to have grown up with my grandparents watching me when my parents were at work and I couldn’t be left on my own, and to this day they teach me lessons about life that shape me into who I am in huge ways. I am incredibly grateful for everything they have done for me, so thank you Nana, Papa, Grammy, and Pappy.”
Outside of school, Jack works for Dynamik sports, a sporting goods store. He also coached a lot of youth hockey camps with Chris Dyment Hockey.
When Jack has free time, he enjoys doing many activities. He shares, “I like to run, ski, spin and fly fish, dirt bike, and hike.”
Jack also frequently spends his time volunteering around the community. He is an ambassador for TOPSoccer in North Reading. The organization has volunteers playing soccer and hanging out with a friend who has a disability.
He notes, “As ambassadors, Matt Lakin and myself, participate and organize the Reading volunteers who help out as well.”
When asked about what he will remember the most about high school, Jack states, “I’ll remember the friends and the time I spent with them the most. I’ve met so many kids from track, hockey, ski club, and school in general that I have spent time with and who have changed the person I am, and I’m extremely grateful for them. I’m very lucky to have the friends I do, and the memories I’ve made with them are definitely what I’ll remember the most from high school.”
Some quick fun facts about Jack are that his favorite food is raspberries. Goodwill Hunting is his favorite movie. Jack’s favorite quote is said by Nana, “Never, never, never, give up.”
In the future, Jack will be attending Hamilton College where he will run cross country and track. He will be majoring in Physics.
Jack resides on Wakefield Street with his younger sibling, Libby Quinn (15).