The Two Jakes: Here's Why They Got Star Student Shout Outs

NEW YORK CITY — Star Students are found in classrooms, on concert and theater stages and at debate lecterns, and out in the community doing good things to make life better for all of us.

Here at Patch, we've launched an initiative to help recognize Star Students, and we’re working to tell the stories of these outstanding kids to their neighbors.

This submission comes from Samantha Cohen who nominated Jake and Jake, two eight-grade students in New York City.

The duo are big sports fans who started a podcast.

Star local student’s name

Jake and Jake

Star local student’s home state

New York

How do you know the star local student?

Parent

Why do you believe the star local student should be recognized?

Jake and Jake are two 14-year old boys who created and run The Swish, an all-sports podcast and Instagram account which they started at age 11 in April of 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

They are both passionate about sports. They love to play, watch and discuss all sports so they began The Swish at the start of the pandemic as a way to keep themselves busy with so much time at home as well as to raise money for Covid-19 relief from friends and family and others who were interested in listening to their podcast. To date, they have interviewed over 100 players, broadcasters and others in the sports industry and have raised over $12,000 to benefit the United Nations Foundation, Inc, (UN Foundation and UNF) COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, but they wanted to do more! Their passion was always to help children in need who didn't have the same resources that they are fortunate to have.

It's hard to believe that almost 3 years later, life for all still isn't back to what we used to call normal. They are lucky enough to be attending school 5 days a week and back to playing all of their beloved sports. They are also lucky enough to attend games as fans to cheer on their favorite teams but they haven't lost sight of the fact that many have not. The pandemic has affected everyone differently - financially, health and otherwise. The boys wanted to use their platform to continue to help others so they began to raise much needed funds for The Garden of Dreams Foundation to help bring life-changing opportunities to young people in need.

In December, they did a fundraiser and delivered toys to over 60 children at Madison Square Garden for The New York Knicks Garden of Dreams night.

What's one thing you want everyone to know about the star local student?

They are so selfless - genuinely two young boys with extreme passion and compassion. Wanting to make the world a better place.

Congratulations on your achievements, and all of our best wishes to you in the future, Jake and Jake!

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Know an outstanding student?

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