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Jacob Council is stepping into leadership as Student Government Association president at Beaufort County Community College. Council, a dual-enrolled Washington High School student, where he plays baseball, plans to pursue mechanical engineering at a university. He is on track to earn his associate in arts in May of 2025, and has already demonstrated his skills as a talented philanthropist when he started a scholarship fund.

Council is following in the footsteps of his sister Katie after seeing the positive experience that she had during her service as SGA president from 2021-2022. The high school senior served as freshman class president at Washington High School, and he will serve in student government at Washington High School this year.

“Everywhere in life, if you decide to get a job anywhere, those skills are important because you’ve got to work with teams no matter where you go,” said Council. “Even if you own your own business, you’re going to have employees, and you’re going to have to work with them and be able to lead them. If you want to develop anywhere and progress through the different positions, you need to have leadership skills.”

Council is very focused on his life after high school and even beyond college. “I’m more worried about my future than my high school experience,” he says about taking on more leadership. He wants to have a career that can sustain a family. “It started out as I wanted to make my parents proud, but then it turned into, I want to make myself proud.”

He plans to study mechanical engineering potentially at North Carolina State University or East Carolina University, inspired in part by his father who is a chemical engineer. “I picked mechanical engineering because I like learning about different machines and how they work.”

At Washington High School, he started a scholarship fund to commemorate a beloved guidance counselor, Jennifer Beach. “I saw the students that she impacted and how she helped lead their life and even turn their lives around, and when she passed away, I saw the impact it had on the high school, and I didn’t want her legacy just to end, so I decided to create a scholarship in her name to continue to help students.” Through events like public cornhole tournaments, he was able to raise $3,000.

He plays on the baseball team at his high school, a perk of Career & College Promise, the program through which he takes free classes at the college. He plays second base and right field for the team. The program allows qualifying high school juniors and seniors to take college classes for credit while continuing to participate in high school activities and finishing high school classes.

Part of why he wants to go to a university is for the experience of campus life, which he has witnessed through his sister. As SGA president, he wants to work on expanding games in the student center beyond the pool table. “Instead of a college, make this a community and have a campus life together,” he says of his presidential aspirations.

With everything he is involved in, he works hard to carve out time for himself. Council tries to get everything done during the week, so he can relax on the weekends. He enjoys outdoor activities like fishing and hunting.

“When you catch a fish, you see how life going is on around you,” he says, “and it almost feels like you are a part of that life, even though you’re putting a hook in its mouth. I find it amazing, everything that goes on in nature without people even seeing it.”

Council has enjoyed getting to be a part of a college atmosphere, with the expectations and responsibilities that come with it. “Here, I feel seen, and I feel like I can get help when I need it, and I can strive to succeed more.”

At BCCC, he gets to focus on his future, and as SGA president, help his fellow students enjoy the campus in the present.

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