Jacob Blair was an active member of Mock Trial and was the president of Speech and Debate during his time at CHS. He also challenged himself academically by taking the most rigorous classes Clayton had to offer.

At Harvard, Blair has continued his Mock trial career, practicing and competing at a much higher standard.

“Mock Trial is different from high school because it is a lot more professional and serious. There is more of a time commitment and it is more complicated. In college, you have the opportunity to pick witnesses and actually be given the chance to analyze things. It is just on a different level, adding to the fact that people are more professional, it just takes the competition to the next level,” Blair said.

In his first semester of college, Blair has already ventured out to try new things such as writing for the university’s political review and joining an advisory club. The club allows students to sign up to do legal work about once a week.

“Basically what the club is doing is going out to find people who need legal work assistance and giving them advice for free while also giving undergrad students the experience of working with the law,” Blair said.

Blair explains that in college, he has a lot more time to explore new things and think about his future. In contrast to his high school experience, he feels more relaxed and free.

“I was lucky enough to get into school in December so I had a lot more time to think about college and what I wanted to study. By thinking through what were the concrete things I thought were interesting, that set me up to be a lot more acclimated when I got into college. At college, what I found liberating was that you are left to your own devices and so you get the opportunity to do what you want. It’s your prerogative to schedule your own day and go about accomplishing all the tasks that you have set for yourself,” Blair said.

In addition to that, Blair feels that there are less pressure and less stress at college, which has allowed him to dedicate more time to do what he is passionate about. As a result, his involvement in activities surrounding law has shaped his future aspirations to become a professor in law.

“I think that the law itself is really interesting. It was an interest that I picked up during my years of debate of defining the law and the government. I am a lot more interested in creating the rules then devising the best way to play by them. You get to put form and create these ideas of what the law should be and potentially see that law actually get implemented rather than just analyzing the law and interpreting what is already there.” Blair said.

In the future, Blair hopes of implementing education laws that would improve the educational system in America. With education being something that Blair is passionate about, he hopes of challenging himself to solve those problems.