Jack Hutchens
Hometown: Carlsbad, California
Major: Engineering Undeclared
Year: Freshman
BIOGRAPHY
Hi everyone! I’m Jack, a freshman in Engineering Undeclared from Carlsbad CA. Life in Illinois has been a bit of a culture shock; it's definitely been an out with mountain biking, in with “urban freeriding” kind of transition if you know what I mean. Although doing jumps off the Krannert staircase is a lot of fun, I’ve grown to appreciate the finer things in life such as wakeboarding, Wednesday night Joes, and weekend OAC Trips. Work hard, party hard, live hard.
PERSONAL STATEMENT
Virtually everyone alive today will at some point in their lives be directly or indirectly affected by cancer in one form or another. I’m no exception, you almost certainly aren’t either. Other charities and organizations largely fill the hole needed for standard and palliative care, however, cancer research remains consistently underfunded with many groups investigating novel treatment vectors finding themselves struggling to secure the finances necessary to continue doing their work. The Illini 4000 is one of the rare organizations that earmarks a significant portion of funds raised to be directed towards funding projects that traditional public and private entities have deemed too risky to invest in. As someone who will be involved in adjacent research in the coming months, I cannot understate the importance of funding this type of research. Beyond just raising money, I can’t think of a more awesome publicity stunt than me and 20 of my newest best friends riding bikes some 5000 miles across the country to contribute to the war on cancer.