Many students have plans after high school, and Jesse Gierke is no exception. Jesse wants to go to IWCC for two years for design tech and then plans on going to a University for four years after he moves to Missouri. The most influential person in his life is Dwayne McDaniel because he gave him rides all of his freshman year and told him about the CCEOC. He then looked up the CCEOC on the school website and read through the handbook. “I’m proud of getting 11 credits my first semester and going in there with one,” Gierke said. Gierke has two teachers that made an impact on him, “Wieda because she snapped me out of my middle school days, and Mr. Williams because without him I would have never gotten as far as I am,” Gierke said. He wants people to remember him as a reminder that not all people learn the same way, but they can still succeed.

When Gierke was a kid, he wanted to be a chef, because he used to watch food network every day. He would watch Good Eats and Alton Brown. “All my life I wanted to own a business, and when I started skateboarding at the age of 12, I wanted to have a skate shop. I’ve always had a love for food so I wanted to put both of them together and have and indoor skate park with a restaurant built in,” Gierke said.

Gierke’s role model is his grandma Bernice because she made the most amazing food, and she taught him to be a caring and loving person.