by Dwain Hebda

By any single standard, Jackson Quick has had a successful high school career. But put together, the young man from Conway has compiled a record of achievement that has vaulted him from Central Arkansas to the Ivy League.

“I think if I had two choices — to be challenged or to not have as much of a challenge — I’d be happier in the long term being challenged,” he said. “I think challenges pay off in the long run.”

In the classroom, the 2018 graduate of Conway Christian School scored a perfect 36 on the ACT as a sophomore, landed the National Merit Scholarship and was class valedictorian.

On the athletic field, Quick distinguished himself on the baseball diamond. He spent his freshman season as a designated hitter, then found his way into the starting lineup at second base and shortstop, which he would hold for the rest of his high school career. He played in four-straight state tournaments and led the team to a semi-final finish one year. He also captured all-conference honors as a senior.

Equally impressive was his performance in other extra-curricular activities including serving as student body president his senior year and even taking a dramatic turn as Jim in the school’s presentation of “Treasure Island.” 

All of which pale in comparison to his favorite activity, quiz bowl, something he had participated in since sixth grade.

“At first I figured I might like it because I had a skill for remembering things and remembering facts,” he said. “(Quiz bowl) is five-on-five Jeopardy, really, it is what it is. So, I had the Jeopardy skills that would kind of help a team format. When I got into it, I was like, oh wow, this is really fun.”

In high school, Quick stepped into a program that had already won the 2A state title once but was coming off a fourth-place finish the previous year. He and his teammates quickly re-established Conway Christian as Arkansas’ elite program, winning three state titles in four years and coming in second his sophomore year. That loss, by a margin of one question, still stings in the retelling.

“We lost by one question, but I tell everyone I think we got robbed that year,” he said of the 2016 campaign. “There was a question on whether I said, ‘Alkaline earth metals,’ which was the correct response. (The judges) thought I said something else, which was an incorrect response.”

He shrugged.

“There’s even controversies in quiz bowl just like any other activity or any competition,” he said. “I will say even though we lost that year, the team that won, I was really excited for them. If our team was to lose to anyone it would be to them because they were very nice and they were also very good.”

The Conway Christian squad also competed twice at nationals under Quick’s tenure. His freshman year, the squad had middling results at the national meet, but as a senior, the team made it all the way to the semi-finals before narrowly losing a hard-fought contest. 

Individually, he was selected all state in quiz bowl all four years and was the Class 2A state MVP his junior and senior years, the same years he served as captain of the Conway Christian state title squads.

“Even though both the junior and senior year teams were really good, in my senior year we got on a really hot streak,” he said. “I think we lost three games all year long, two of them in open invitationals. Then we went on, like, a gazillion game winning streak, about 30 to be accurate. We went undefeated in opening rounds at nationals and actually beat the eventual champion. That’s why I would say 2018’s team was probably the best of my four years.”

Quick added another note to his already-impressive dossier by gaining admission to Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., which he chose over Vanderbilt University and the University of Arkansas. There, he plans to study computer science and is weighing a minor in economics to go with it. 

“It’s certainly a bit different,” he said of his impending college experience. “One, there’s a physical change; it’s so far from home and it’s so different from home, culturally, the climate, everything. And when you get there, there’s certainly going to be an academic challenge.

“To that extent, I think challenge is good. It helps to move into new situations and learn how to take care of yourself and learn how to do something differently than you’ve always done it. I think that makes you better equipped for the future.”