Hard-working Jordan Baumgartner scored a perfect attendance in his time at Freeman

By the time Jordan Baumgartner reached junior high, he already had the foresight to know which industries would remain strong by the time he was a working adult.

Skilled labor wasn’t going anywhere. His father, a plumber, was living proof.

Baumgartner, a 2020 Freeman High School graduate, has since pursued tiling and roofing jobs and other means of income that let him get his hands dirty.

Baumgartner may join the family business, as he plans to attend trade school in the fall and join the National Guard.

College was never in his sights.

“I was never really big on being stuck in a classroom,” he said. “I’ve mostly been a hands-on kind of guy.”

But he hit the books as hard as a hammer.

Baumgartner will graduate from Freeman with a 3.2 grade-point average while completing a four-year run of perfect attendance.

The coronavirus pandemic cut his attendance a couple of months short.

“It’s been strange (missing school),” he said. “In the past I never really got sick, and if I got a little sick, I would suck it up.”

It was the afterschool pursuits that kept him most busy.

Baumgartner was a member of the varsity football, wrestling and tennis teams, as well the school band, where he played the trumpet.

“He was a huge part of the band and just an overall good, hard worker,” Freeman music teacher James Jydstrup said. “You even see it now, as he’s always working out and going to the gym.”

The former offensive lineman is also a longtime member of Boy Scouts of America, earning the coveted Eagle Scout badge.

To help pass the time during quarantine, he chose to work and was recently hired at FedEx. He maintained employment throughout high school.

“I could sit around and play video games, or go out there and make money and try and pay off my car,” he said.

Now he’s ready for the next chapter of his life.

Baumgartner would have preferred to have a normal commencement ceremony, but is happy to have his diploma and continue to do the thing he loves – working with his hands.

“He’ll do well in whatever he pursues,” Jydstrup said.