JACK BRASESCO

curriculum vitae

Jack is a senior at The Nueva School with a passion for interactive media and game design. His high school experience has centered on rigorous academics, varsity athletics, and community engagement. Jack’s hobbies represent a variety of creative passions, including playing steel drums, piano and guitar; creative writing and poetry; and computer design with tools like Blender, Ableton Live, and Unity. He can often be seen with his Siberian Husky Angus at his side.

EXPERIENCE

NEKTAR THERAPEUTICS

IT INTERN
www.nektar.com

Nektar Therapeutics is a research-based development stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops innovative medicines in areas of high unmet medical need. Our R&D pipeline of new investigational drugs includes treatments for cancer, auto-immune disease and chronic pain. We leverage Nektar’s proprietary and proven chemistry platform in the discovery and design of our new drug candidates.
(Source: Nektar)

 

Accomplishments

  • Wrote program which increased efficiency of HDD erasing by 700%
  • Worked with Dell to repair damaged machines
  • Imaged computers and performed tech installations for new hires
  • Completed help desk request tickets in IT Footprints
  • Executed tech relocations for the company’s office move
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
  • The Nueva Cup 50% 50%
  • The Nueva School 30% 30%
  • Conservation Ambassadors 20% 20%

THE NUEVA CUP

www.nuevaschool.org/giving/golf-tournament

The Nueva Cup is our family run charity golf tournament supporting the athletic department of The Nueva School. Since its inception, the annual charity event has raised over $100,000 to help support the growing athletic programs of the new Nueva Upper School.

Student Recruiter & Golfer

  • Annual Golf Tournament Organizer, Player & Recruiter of Student Players
  • Member of the 2018 tournament winning golf team

     

THE NUEVA SCHOOL

Office of Social-Emotional Learning

www.nuevaschool.org

We believe that EQ matters as much as IQ. Nueva’s internationally recognized social-emotional learning program has been fundamental to our commitment to nurture the whole child since the school’s inception. Our values of care for self, care for others, and care for the community are the foundation of our culture. Our SEL program supports students’ learning and growth through the development of these five competencies: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision Making. (Source: Nueva)

Student Program Auditor

  • Worked with the Head of School to review the original SEL Charter and discovered a provision to review and refine the program annually
  • Selected to perform the first annual student audit of the Nueva Social Emotional Learning Program
  • Conducted action research on the desirable traits of the Social-Emotional Learning Program as well as the efficacy of the program

CONSERVATION AMBASSADORS

www.conservationambassadors.org

Giving a worldwide voice to wildlife by providing a permanent, loving home for displaced, abused, abandoned or permanently injured wild and exotic animals – sharing these animal ambassadors through our Zoo to You outreach program with school children and learners of all ages to educate them about conservation, connect them to the wild world, and inspire them to protect the planet.  (Source: Conservation Ambassadors)

Student Volunteer: Zoo to You Program

 

EDUCATION

  • MA/MS, Game Design 0% 0%
  • University of Southern California | BA, Interactive Entertainment 0% 0%
  • The Nueva School 95% 95%
  • Crocker Middle School 100% 100%
  • West Hillsborough Elementary School 100% 100%
  • Tulane Montessori Children’s House 100% 100%

THE NUEVA SCHOOL

www.nuevaschool.org

The Nueva School is an internationally-recognized independent PreK-12 school, serving gifted and talented students since 1967. The school is a three-time winner of the US Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon Award.  Nueva is a student-centered school known for its distinctive inquiry-based interdisciplinary studies, constructivist project-based learning, and its pioneering work in social-emotional learning and design thinking. Nueva students engage in simulations, learn to make real-world connections, monitor their own learning, and become flexible thinkers who are adept risk-takers and lifelong learners. (Source: Nueva)

Senior, Class of 2020

  • Engaged Student with a Passion for Programming & Interactive Media
  • Rigorous Academics, including University of California Honors Designated Courses: Biology, Calculus, Spanish 4, Advanced Topics in Spanish, Machine Learning, Object Oriented Programming
  • Active Co-curricular participation in Athletics, Arts & Music

Nueva Quest

Design Thinking in action, the Nueva Quest gives students the unique opportunity to pursue their own interests throughout their four years of high school. Students identify and craft their own personal in-depth inquiry in a self-selected area of evolving passion or in pursuit of a deep question. Mentors, online resources, classes, and internships support them in their improved mastery in their areas of passion while teaching them how to recruit mentors and navigate in the real world. 
(Source: Nueva Quest)   

Personal Quests

    • Exploration in Code – Learned and applied various coding languages to create a personal assistant AI
    • Programming an Audio Visualizer – Used Fourier Transforms, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS to create an audio visualizer
    • 52 & You – Nurturing a growth mindset through purposeful personal development by learning a new skill every week for a year

Educational Goals

Passion directed, experiential learning. Maintain continuous progress in and out of school on my goal to become an interactive media and game design professional. Learn every day.

GLOBAL IMMERSION

NUEVA IMMERSIVE LEARNING PROGRAM  

PERU

The Inca Trail. Students explored questions related to history, global studies, social anthropology, and environmental stewardship. This 10-day trip provided a transformational journey for our students, taking them into Latin America and the deep roots of Incan civilization to study its history and cultural anthropology. (Source: Nueva)

COSTA RICA

Rainforest & Leatherback Sea Turtle Conservation. Students spent 10 days participating in conservation and scientific research. Half their time was spent at the Monteverde Institute (cloud rainforest; multi-disciplinary connections). The other half was spent at Playa Grande (Pacific Ocean beach; STEM research & Conservation focus) (Source: Nueva)

SAN DIEGO

Immigration: What’s really happening at the border?  Traveling in small groups within the US, students selected one of five available travel themes, all of which were linked to American history, culture, and identity. This group of students explored the topical issue of immigration while visiting a variety of sites near the U.S. border and in Tijuana. Students met with immigrant families, made water drops on migrant routes, interviewed border patrol agents, attended immigration court hearings and met a prominent immigration defense attorney. Many of the activities, interviews, and conversations were conducted entirely in Spanish.

TRINIDAD

Steel Drum Band Spring Break Trip – Carnival & Panorama. The steel drum, a ubiquitous presence at Nueva, was born on Trinidad and our group took a pilgrimage to see what the instrument truly sounds like when played as a part of a 100-piece band during Carnival and Panorama. Over the course of the trip, the group listened to calypsonians play, learned to walk on stilts, visited monuments, and heard pan, pan, pan. A full-body arts and cultural immersion, the Trinidad trip exposed students to the sound, color, music, and art of cultural resistance.  (Source: Nueva)

ORGANIZATIONS

  • Nueva Varsity Volleyball 25% 25%
  • Nueva Varsity Basketball 25% 25%
  • Nueva Basketball Club 10% 10%
  • Nueva Varsity Golf 10% 10%
  • Nueva Steel Drum Band 20% 20%
  • Artworks Fine Art Studio 10% 10%

NUEVA VARSITY VOLLEYBALL

Founding Member of the Nueva Varsity Volleyball team

Co-Founder & Co-Captain

 

NUEVA VARSITY BASKETBALL

Member of the Nueva Varsity Basketball team

2018-2019 season PSAL league champions and CCS Section runner-up  

Center

 

NUEVA BASKETBALL CLUB

Student run athletic club that promotes school spirit across all athletic programs

Achieved enrollment of 43% of the Nueva School student body

Co-Founder, Recruiter, and Spokesman

 

NUEVA VARSITY GOLF

Member of the Nueva Golf Club and Varsity Golf Team

 

NUEVA STEEL DRUM BAND

Began playing in Elementary School through the Nueva Enrichment Program

Section Lead, Double Tenor

 

NUEVA COMMUNITY SERVICE CLUB

Worked on a number of projects supporting California fire relief as well as communities overseas

WE Day community service event nominated participant

 

ARTWORKS FINE ART STUDIO

Over 8 years of Drawing and Painting Lessons. I continue to pursue art through my academic electives and personal exploration

 

 

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