0
0
Bells jingle and there is a man in red and white, roaming the NS halls with a jolly smile and bag of gifts. But it’s not the night before Christmas, and it’s not even Santa Claus that is the culprit. It’s senior Jake Haws, pretending to be Santa and making a normal day one to remember, simply because he can.
Haws’s sense of humor is one that sometimes strikes people as unusual, but more often than not he is doing something so chaotic that it can’t not be laughed at by his peers. Since his freshman year he has grown to learn that doing funny things, when respectful, is one of the easiest ways to have fun.
“Freshman year I was really self-conscious about what others thought of me and I really cared a lot about my perception and who I was,” Haws said. “I would change a lot to make everyone laugh, I mean, I would not say that I don’t make people laugh now, but since I’ve grown I’ve kinda realized that nobody really cares and so you can just do whatever you want.”
One of the ways he has socially grown as well as expanded his talents is through tennis. What started as something to do with friends freshman year became something he was really good at, and he and senior Quinn Allred are currently in the first doubles position. Being on the tennis team has created an outlet for Haws to make several new jokes, such as the seniors and coaches having shirts with their faces, and Haws himself having shorts with a teammate’s face all over them.
“I think making people laugh is an important thing because if you stop laughing, what even are you doing in life?” Haws said. “You’re not having a good life if you don’t have fun.”
Making situations light and fun has partially come from his family experience, and growing up with eight siblings. Despite challenges like warm nights because of multiple beds in a room, or sibling arguments when he was younger, Haws is grateful for his family dynamic and the person it shaped him into.
His younger brother Taft, who is currently a freshman, shares a room with Haws currently and takes inspiration from his brother’s work ethic and personality. For a while they worked early mornings together at Terrel’s in the bakery, and the experience was sometimes difficult, but it brought them closer.
“The challenge of waking up really early every morning can be really hard for people, but the more he’s done it the more he’s overcome it,” Taft said.
His brother isn’t the only one strongly impacted by Haws, and for some of his friends like Evan Drew, his love is always there at the right time.
“When my Grandpa died I really just didn’t want to be alone, but he showed up just to make sure I was ok,” Drew said. “No matter what the circumstance was.”
Much of his personality and humility has come from how much he enjoys watching movies, and he takes inspiration from a variety of films and actors, including Robin WIliams.
“Every character he plays is loving. I’ve heard stories about him, how he was the Genie in Aladdin,” Haws said. “ He said if I’m gonna voice Genie don’t put my name out there. He didn’t want Disney to say that he was Genie, and so people are watching Aladdin just because he’s Genie. He wanted people to watch Aladdin because they wanted to watch Aladdin. Not because Robin Williams was in it, so I feel like he is very humble as a guy.”
Haws also has a passion for creating art, varying from silly cartoons and doodles to Lego sets without instructions. For him, it’s the act of doing, and creating something. After memorizing how to draw a dragon from a library rented “How to Draw” book when he was younger, he started making art a bigger part of his life.
“I kind of like the mechanisms of things, and how you can really accomplish something pretty crazy in a little amount of thinking,” Haws said. “That’s kind of what I like about art.”
After he graduates from NS, Haws hopes to leave a legacy that sticks in people’s minds and memories.
“I want to be someone that’s memorable enough to where when you think back to high school you would think of me doing some weird thing,” Haws said. “Not some weird thing but when you think back to high school you’re not going to remember everyone that just walked through the halls, you’re going to remember Santa coming to deliver gifts.”
