Forsyth Country Day School from seventh to ninth grade, reclassing at Woodberry Forest School through tenth grade, and R.J. Reynolds to finish out eleventh and twelfth. Obviously in his five years of high school, Jake Fain has had a lot of experience with education and has rightfully chosen to take a year off before doing any more.

Upon transferring, Fain quickly found his place at RJR in the music scene, but he says what truly shaped his experience the most were the peers and teachers who he met along the way.

“The good part about going to 3 different schools is you get to meet all kinds of different and unique people… Mr. Clevenger might not think he has influenced me at all, but he has made me really think about what I’m doing in school and how to improve the way I do things. I really appreciate him and also Ms. Walters for making me do work even if i really didn’t want to,” Fain said.

There is not much that Fain would change about his high school experience, and why would he? Acafellas, the a cappella group he is a star member of, placed fourth in the ICHSA Southern Quarterfinals, he earned his eagle scout, and became a popular entity on campus. However, if he could do just one thing differently, he would simply think more.

“I would tell my freshman self to really think about what I want to get out of high school, and what things are worth spending my time on as opposed to not,” Fain reflected.

Next year, Jake will be taking the road less traveled.

“I plan on hiking the Appalachian Trail next year instead of going straight to college. This was a really hard decision to make, since all of my friends are going to college next year, but ever since I was 12, hiking on the trail for the first time, I knew that one day I wanted to tackle the whole thing, and I knew that next year was the perfect time for that,” Fain said excitedly.

Jake Fain has made an incredible impact on RJR in his mere two years of attendance. No doubt next year will be an incredible and life changing experience for Fain and he has high hopes for the future as well.

“I plan on going to college, which will either be Appalachian State University or the University of Texas at Austin,” Fain closed.