The Blue and White had the pleasure of meeting with Jacey Bowman, a senior at Apopka High. We discussed her life in and out of school, aspects of her character, and significant moments in her life. Additionally, we dove into the familial traditions and life lessons she values.

I am on the Varsity Swim team, National Honor Society, and Senior Class Council—Last year, I was in the Junior class Council. All of my other clubs were kind of thrown away after Covid year, my sophomore year. Also, I help Mrs. Houvouras with the recycling for YES (Young Environmentalist Society.)

For Senior Class Council, our main responsibility is to organize everything for the Senior graduates of 2023. At our last meeting, we ordered our class invitations. We organized the Welcome Back Senior event at the beginning of the year and the Senior Tailgate. We designed the Senior shirts and decided on our class color and quote. We just got all that stuff organized, and hopefully, everything else before December.

English has always been my favorite [subject]. It’s just the easiest for me to comprehend. I have a very decent memory, so as long as I understand what I am reading, it will stay there for a long time.

[Outside of school, I] honestly love my job. I just got promoted at Jeremiah’s Italian Ice in Mount Dora; it came with a nice little raise. I love meeting all the new people that come in and socializing with everyone. As a preschool teacher in Early Childhood, I love when little kids come in and get so excited. You can tell they were looking forward to this: I was their Disneyworld. It is such a good feeling. People come in when they’re sad and have had a really bad day, and [Jeremiah’s] is the sad treat to make them feel better. I just like making other people happy, and my job has become a very easy outlet to do that outside of school.

[If I were introducing myself to another person at Apopka High, I would say that I am] just getting through. Everyone has problems here in some way, shape, or form. Whether you’re in the lowest classes or highest classes, in clubs or not, in sports or not: All of the students here are going through some type of struggle, and we’re all going to get through it together. We don’t need to worry about anything. Everything’s going to be alright.

Tomorrow is tomorrow. Today is today. There’s nothing I can change about what I did yesterday, I can only decide what I do today and change what I can do tomorrow. There is no point to stress about yesterday, even if it’s still going on today. Today is just a day to find a better solution for it. Tomorrow I can work further towards it. I will always figure it out; whether it’s today or tomorrow because I couldn’t do it yesterday.

I always considered myself to be an overly awake person–optimistic, overly enthused, and bubbly. I mean don’t get me wrong, everyone has their off days, but I like to think I can find the positive in any situation. It might come to me later on, and I might be really upset about something that day, but I think I can always find a positive in anything, no matter how hard it is.

The Blue and White asked Jacey about a family tradition she holds dear, and she mentioned her families funeral services.

[I hold my family’s funeral ceremonies dear to me.] After the funeral service, we all go back to one of the houses and have a celebration. We would have their favorite foods, their favorite movie would be on, and their favorite music would be playing. Instead of making it this overly solemn thing, we celebrate and remember them. It’s like our last laugh with them, and I think that’s a really really cool thing to do.

[A pivotal moment in my life was meeting Erika.] Meeting [Erika] has made me an incredible human being. I don’t think I would have half of the characteristics that I have today if it wasn’t for meeting [Erika]. I don’t think I would try as hard in school or be as much of an overachiever. I think I would settle way more in life and in general. I always thought I was a nice person, but now I feel overly comfortable with saying I go above and beyond for people: maximum effort for everything.

[I would like to tell everyone at Apopka High that] even if you don’t know what path you’re going on in life, you will figure it out. It doesn’t have to be the end of your senior year or the beginning of your junior year. Don’t let counselors pressure you. If you don’t know what you want to do, think high school will never end, or think it’ll be the worst years of your life; just try to enjoy them because it’s going to be over and you are gonna have for the rest of your life to be miserable. So just try really hard to make the confusing times the best times.