by Jim Boyle
Editor
Teacher Curt Michener first spotted Jordan Haack’s competitive streak early in high school.
Photo by John Sherman, ECM Publishers
Jordan Haack has acomplished much in high school, with some of the latest accomplishments coming on the tennis court.
He knew enough about the young man from conversations with Haack’s dad to recruit him for his math team, but he couldn’t get the high school freshman too fired up about joining.
He said he’d probably join but wouldn’t commit. When he finally joined, he proved to be difficult to work with.
“He tended to work alone and scoffed at me when I tried to give him extra problems,” Michener said.
That was the case until he discovered results were kept statewide and posted.
“Once he learned that he had the chance to be the best and recognized, it was game on,” Michener said.
His competitive spirit has been on display ever since for Michener. Haack’s conquests in the classroom, at state and national math competitions and on the tennis court have been well-documented in the Star News.
He has landed valedictorian honors, competed in the state tennis tournament every year he’s played, including this past week, and won state titles individually in mathematics and a trip to Moody’s in Manhattan to compete with other math scholars from Elk River High School against the nation’s top mathematicians.
Oh, and he’s also a National Merit Scholar, got a perfect score on his ACT test and helped an all-state Minnesota math team to its best finish (11th) in the nation since 2003.
“He is a competitor through and through,” Michener said.
Elk River’s No. 3 singles player helped the team finish second.
This year Haack was to compete in doubles tennis at state with Sam Gearou and with the whole Elks team. He and Gearou had yet to finish tournament play as of press time.
Tennis coach Randy Ronning said that although Haack is the No. 3 guy on the team, he would be the No. 1 guy on many teams. The tennis coach said Haack’s combination of athleticism and intelligence have made him a great tennis player.
“Pretty impressive for someone who didn’t take up the sport until his freshman year,” Michener said. “It’s definitely not surprising, though, as he pushes himself on the court as much as in the classroom.”
Haack is the son of Dan and Laura Haack.
In addition to being captain of both the math and tennis team, he was also in National Honor Society and Knowledge Bowl.
His favorite classes were AP computer science and AP chemistry. He called them “very interesting subjects and fun to be a part of.”
The tic-tac-toe project he did in computer science is easily the most enjoyable of his high school career, he said. Students had to write a program which could play the game while also following certain guidelines, and then all of their programs went head to head in a tournament.
“It was fun to compete and see what techniques everyone else used,” Haack said.
Haack said Michener has been his most influential teacher.
“I can’t thank him enough for how much he has helped me improve as a mathematician,” Haack said.
Haack said his toughest course was the two years of English he took, but his junior year Denise Green helped him improve his writing skills “a ton.”
When he realized that his schedule would be enough for him to win valedictorian over his peers, he said he “made sure” to get straight A’s.
To do that, he said he stayed organized and tried to keep his grades as high as he could in every class so that he wouldn’t need to worry about any class in particular.
He said the high school’s grading system, however, is flawed. Three band kids would have tied him if it weren’t for band lowering their grade point averages.
“But on the flip side, my Calculus II and III courses at the University of Minnesota also went unweighted, even though they were much harder than any class this school offers,” he said.
Haack, who was to give a speech at Elk River High School’s June 5 graduation ceremony, said he is happy to be moving on.
He will be attending Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, California. He said he will likely major in some form of math or computer science, and go on to be either an actuary or a software engineer.
“In 10 years I hope to have a stable job and little debt,” he said, and, “hopefully, that isn’t too unrealistic.”
Michener wouldn’t put anything past Haack. He knows how second place is not good enough in Haack’s book.
“He strives to be the best in everything he does,” Michener said. “When he does have an occasional struggle, he works until he has mastered what was once his struggle.
“If I were a betting man, I’d bet that he becomes the best in his field someday.”