High school senior Jake Eastaugh coaches two members of the Wolfpack wrestling program as part of his senior-year project. Even though he is finished with the required hours on his project, Eastaugh continues to help coach the young kids, despite a busy work and school schedule.
It's hard to pin down senior Jake Eastaugh.
Between a full schedule of work and school, the 18-year-old found time to complete his senior project by combining it with something he loves: Wrestling.
"I was putting my project off for too long," he said. Head wrestling coach Jef Rooney asked Eastaugh if he'd be interest in coaching the Wolfpack Wrestling program for his project. "I took his offer, been doing it and it's actually a lot of fun."
Eastaugh was having so much fun, in fact, that he kept coaching after his project hours were finished.
"Jake has surpassed the amount of time he needs for his project and continues to coach and lead both groups on a daily basis," Rooney said. "As all the kids learn, Jake shows a high amount of excitement and joy being able to give back to the sport we all love."
Eastaugh began his wrestling career in the Wolfpack program, which is also known as PeeWee Wrestling. It starts in kindergarten and goes through fifth grade and practice is broken into two age groups, kindergarten through first grade and second through fifth grade. As he begins to talk about his time coaching kids, Eastaugh becomes highly animated and energized.
"They're crazy competitive," he said. "There will always be tears. The kids cry when they lose, but it's cool to see how competitive such a young kid can be. One of the really young guys was super quiet and never said anything. Now he's one of our better wrestlers and real talkative. He came out of his shell for sure."
He also spoke highly of the Wrangell wrestling program overall, saying it teaches kids to be respectful. "You've never seen a Wrangell kid get mad or throw his headgear. It's just always been really respectful. It's taught from day one."
Wrestling is obviously a passion for Eastaugh, but it's not his only interest. He's always had a talent for mechanics. Having taken shop classes since middle school, he's built his own boat and has his own shop to work on projects. His most recent project is rebuilding a 1984 Chevy truck.
Finding time for any extracurricular activity almost seems impossible for Eastaugh.
"I'm come to school for weightlifting in the morning, then I go down to (Bay Co., where I work) until 11 or 12-ish, come up for my one class, leave for lunch, come back for my two other classes, then I go down to work after school until 5 p.m.," he said. "Then I go up to (coach) wrestling until 6:30 p.m., then I go to my own shop and work until 8:30 or 9 p.m., then I go home, do homework and go to bed."
Eastaugh credits the wrestling program with his strong work ethic, something his educators have noticed for a long time.
"He's got a really good work ethic," said Bob Davis, assistant principal of the high school. "He's in school, he's working, he's putting hours into wrestling. He's been that way since middle school."
Upon graduation, Eastaugh isn't sure what he's going to do, but he's been made an offer by his employer to work for them after being sent to mechanics school. Though he's not 100% sure if that's what he wants to do, he can see himself continuing to coach wrestling.
"It's just really impressive to see how fast kids can learn when they put their minds to it," he said.
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