Making the grade
Cumberland resident earned Academic All-American honors at WPI
Cumberland’s Jack Bauer earns Academic All-American honors while swimming for WPI.
CUMBERLAND – It’s been a whirlwind kind of spring and early summer for former Cumberland High swimming phenom Jack Bauer.
Most recently, the 21-year-old Worcester Polytechnic Institute senior-to-be and, naturally, a premier swimmer for the Goats, received news that he said floored him – that he had been selected to the Google Cloud Academic All-America Division III AtLarge first team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
SID Mark Therrien noted Bauer is the first male WPI athlete to earn such a first-team accolade since basketball standout Matt Carr did so in 2012.
“I found out about a month after school got out, which was early May,” Bauer stated on Monday night. “It honestly was very humbling. I went online and started looking at the other people who received the award, and they were people from (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Cal Tech in Pasadena (Calif.) and Denison University (in Granville, Ohio), among others.
“I immediately thought, ‘I’m ranked among these guys? Are you serious?’ I mean, they’re super-smart, they’ve got some really impressive majors and they’re outstanding athletes.
'There were 17 guys who made the first team, and I’ve actually competed against some of them. They’re phenome- nal swimmers and very smart people because I’ve interacted with them before. “This blows my mind.”
Fact is, it shouldn’t. Bauer, always the consummate student-athlete, was a third-team selection a year ago, and is the only WPI swimmer or diver to earn the honor more than once. In addition, the chemical engineering major (with a chemistry minor) is also a three-time department award winner and a repeat New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) All-Academic honoree.
“There were 17 guys who made the first, and I’ve actually competed against some of them. They’re phenomenal and very smart people because I’ve interacted with them before. This blows my mind.”
— WPI senior and Cumberland graduate Jack Bauer
To describe his busy 2018, it started with a terrific season in the pool, which he capped at the NEWMAC Swimming & Diving Championships at MIT in February. He captured the crowns in the 100-yard and 200-yard backstrokes with PR clockings of 48.22 and 1:47.44, then chipped in a seventh in the 50 freestyle (21.02).
He also swam the second leg of the runner-up 200 freestyle relay, notching a split of 20.27, which finished second behind MIT in 1:22.33. Ironically, he also helped the Goats snare relay runner-up laurels in the 200 medley (1:30.25); the 400 medley (3:19.70); and the 400 freestyle (3:02.71).
Bauer clocked splits of 22.64 in the shorter medley (backstroke), 48.69 in the longer and 44.45 in the 400 free (as the anchor).
He expressed disappointment after the 200 free relay lost to the host squad by a scant .06.
The strange thing is he never did compete at the NCAA Division III Championships in Shenandoah, Texas in late March, despite the fact he had the third seed in the 100 back and sixth seed in the 200 version (both times at the NEWMACs clinched new school marks, as did his 50 back and 100 butterfly).
He nevertheless had outstanding reason for missing it: He left for Melbourne, Australia on March 6 to complete an Interdisciplinary Qualifying Project, one required by all WPI juniors, and didn’t return until May 10.
“I was heartbroken about missing NCAAs, but it was a project that all students must do, regardless of major,” Bauer explained. “I actually worked with other WPI classmates in other majors at various non-profit organizations in and around Melbourne. The whole group consisted of 23 students in chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering, math, chemistry, information systems, etc.
“I was in a smaller group of four, and our project was to help promote sustainable housing,” he continued. “We met with a mix of renters and homeowners (in the area) and gave them tips on how to utilize less energy and be more responsible environmentally, whether it be behavior modifications or implementing new technologies, such as solar.
“I think we did well on our project. I know I was excited about it.”
During his time Down Under, he also had some fun sightseeing and partaking in Melbourne’s beauty, history and food.
“We had a great time,” he laughed. “We took in a different culture and saw different types of wildlife. It was a really memorable trip, something I’ll never forget.”
When he returned, he finished up with school with a superb 3.97 GPA out of 4.00), then spent some time with his mom, Judy, in Cumberland, before preparing for another trip.
This one was to Troy, N.Y. to take on an internship with a bio-pharmaceutical company named Regeneron, Inc. Bauer noted it develops medicines to improve quality of life.
“First off, I wanted industry experi- ence, and I thought it might be something I wanted to pursue professionally later on,” he explained. “There are so many industries I could enter right now, and I’m trying to narrow down the things I could pursue with a Bachelor’s in chemical engineering.
“I started about five weeks ago, and I’m really enjoying it,” he added. “I like the challenges it brings, and it makes me think outside-the-box every day. It forces me to learn more and more. Right now, I’m learning the 9-5 grind and doing whatever I have to learn more, but it’s been fun, too.
“I had an intern softball team practice (Monday),” he continued. “I didn’t play a position, we rotated all over the place, but we all had a blast. I haven’t swung a bat in years, so I was rusty, but I got into a groove toward the end.”
Bauer also found time to get back into the water during a recent visit home to see his mom, Judy. He decided to do the Save Buzzards Bay 1.2-Mile Swim a few weeks ago.
“It was my first-ever open water swim, but it was awesome,” he said. “A friend of mine from school lives in Lakeville, and he called me; he said he had done it last year and was doing it again, so he asked me, ‘You want to do it with me?’ I said, ‘Sure.’”
Not surprisingly, he finished fourth overall in a field of 315 with an approximate time of 21:30, not to mention first in his age group (20-24).
“I have to say life is treating me very well right now,” he offered. “I’m just looking forward to learning more in this internship, then going back to school and swim for another year.”