Career comes first for Washougal’s Jacobs

Jacobs was one of 12 students from the Vancouver-Portland metropolitan area to earn a Boeing Tech Prep Internship at Boeing’s plant in Gresham.

If you go

? What: Freedom Bowl Classic

? New home: After 11 years at Kiggins Bowl, the Freedom Bowl will be played at McKenzie Stadium. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

? New format: Instead of East vs. West, the teams were drafted by the coaching staffs.

? Youth games: Clark County Youth Football continues its relationship with event as there will be a CCYF game at 2 p.m. and another at 4 p.m.

? Cost: Tickets are $10 and net proceeds benefit Shriners Hospitals.

“A crash course on machining is the best way to describe it,” Jacobs said of the metal working.

Always one who likes to build things, Jacobs is into carpentry and computer aided drafting. He also took six advanced placement classes in high school, including physics.

An assistant football coach with the Panthers, Danny Howard, and physics teacher Jay Bennett both encouraged Jacobs to try for the internship.

It was not easy. The application process was extensive. Then there was an interview.

Still, as he was told by supporters, ‘It’s Boeing. You gotta go for it.’ “

Then he got the call that he made the cut.

“Oh, I freaked out,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs worked for four weeks last summer at the Gresham plant.

He will be back for four more weeks after the Freedom Bowl.

With his experience as an intern and from conversations with employees at Boeing, Jacobs said he believes he has a good shot at getting an entry level job as soon as the internship ends. He knows what he would do from there.

“It would totally be up to me to obtain the prerequisites to become an apprentice,” Jacobs said.

From excelling in school, to earning the internship, then possibly a job, more training, and then a career in the aerospace industry.

That’s the plan.

This week, though, he gets to say goodbye to football by playing one more organized game. The game is kind of like work, he said, with every player understanding his role for the benefit of the team.

At Boeing, employees understand they “are a part of the chain that builds the airplane.”

Football also has been a huge part of Jacobs’ development.

“It teaches you to push on,” he said, and then, noting the other all stars preparing for the Freedom Bowl. “All of us put the time and effort to be here. You have to put in the time.”

Just like working hard in school can lead to more opportunities in life.