Brown School Sixth Grader Shows Leadership at Youth Conference

Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Jack Clark, 12

School: Benjamin G. Brown School

Accomplishment: At a recent youth leadership conference, Jack spoke before some 250 students and teachers about how his school discouraged students from using drugs.

How he did it: Jack joined several other sixth, seventh and eighth graders from Somerville Public Schools at the Youth Leading Everywhere Abstaining from Drugs (YOU LEAD) conference. The conference encouraged drug-free youth to continue their healthy habits and to influence their peers to abstain from drugs, too.  

Jack said that he didn’t know that a student from each school would have to give a two-minute speech about the poster on the school’s drug use prevention strategies that he and his classmate had made. Still, he volunteered to speak in front of the audience and said it was easier than he thought it would be.

“I pretended that there wasn’t an audience and that I was just talking,” he said.

Brown School principal Kathleen Seward said that Jack has always been willing to try new things. “He’s a student who, when given an opportunity, says, ‘I’d like to do that,’” she said.

Recently Jack joined a Charlestown lacrosse team after completing an afterschool program that taught the rules of the game and basic skills. He also plays recreational basketball at home with his friends and at the high school courts. Standing 5 feet 8 inches tall, Jack usually plays center and said he plans to try out for the basketball team next year. In the meantime, he watches Celtics games with his family, who accompanied him this year to his first Celtics game.

“It was really fun,” he said. “We sat far away, but I could still see pretty well.”

Jack said he enjoys science and reading. He recently finished reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series on his own time and said he’s waiting for his English language arts class to begin their next book project.