By: Cheney Hurley –

Senior Jacob Jurgens is a starting pitcher for the Knights’ varsity baseball team. While baseball consumes most of his life, Jurgens wants people to know that he is more than his sport. Jurgens has had many people and things that have influenced him greatly.

The most important people in Jurgens’ life are his parents who have taught him the lessons of life and helped him get through all the hard times.

“They’ve been really supportive of anything I’ve ever done,” said Jurgens. “They haven’t held me back at all.”

Baseball has been a big part of Jurgens’ high school career. It has helped him make good friends and has taught him a lot of things that not only apply to baseball, but also school and life in general.

“[Baseball] really taught me about determination and work ethic and it also applies to school and life, so it has made a big impact,” said Jurgens.

Jurgens was also recently named as one of the five selected from Southeast to be on the all-conference baseball team. On top of that, his team won districts and is currently the number one seed heading into state.

“[Being named all-conference] shows the hard work I’ve put in over the [course of] my high school career,” said Jurgens.

As for the future, Jurgens plans on studying aviation at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and he hopes to eventually become a commercial pilot. Jurgens credits his interest in aviation to his uncle who used to work with planes in the military.

“He was a crew dog, which means he worked on the planes, and he talks to me all the time about it. I just got really interested in it and I have [already] flown a couple of times,” said Jurgens.

Jurgens is more than just a varsity baseball player — he wants to be remembered as a genuinely nice person.

“I just want people to remember me as a great person; always nice to be around and [someone who] never put anyone down,” said Jurgens. “I just want people to think that he was a nice kid, a really great person.”