Even though it is summer vacation, two recent graduates from Bradwell Institute will still have books on the brain, as they sign up for classes and make arrangements with roommates to prepare for their first year of college.
While squeezing in family time before heading off to Florida A & M University in August, salutatorian Anthony Jepson will be "reviewing to give me a head start," for his college courses, but is still "looking forward to the freedom of college."
Graduating first in class, Brittany House, agreed and said she is "looking forward to living more independently."
She will further her education at Armstrong Atlantic State University to major in pre-medicine and later in veterinary medicine, with hopes of becoming a veterinarian.
"I just have a huge interest in animals and enjoy taking care of them," House said.
She has volunteered at the Liberty Humane Shelter and a local animal clinic.
It was "mostly self-motivation," and just wanting to do her best that pushed House to exceptional academic performance.
"I think I just did it to challenge myself," she explained. "My parents pushed me a little bit...they just wanted me to do my best."
Jepson calls his outstanding high school transcript a "side effect of my drive to succeed."
"Because I always wanted to achieve the best," he said.
Majoring in pre-engineering was the "best choice" for Jepson, as his favorite course in high school was calculus, a tie with physics, he said after some thought.
"I'm really interested in computers and the sciences and mathematics," he explained.
Jepson enjoyed doing well in his studies during high school and plans to carry that into his college career.
He believes it will also make a difference in his professional career.
"They (Employers) really want to see people who are keen in what they do and they enjoy it," he explained. "I think a motivated individual is more likely to reach a higher position than one who is just satisfied with the norm."
Besides being Beta Club president and actively involved in Young Adult Liberty Leaders, Jepson also joined the Junior Engineering Technical Society.
"I think managing my time was hard to start because I was quite involved in a few clubs," Jepson said.
He even wanted to run cross country this past year, but had to make the difficult decision not to because of his academic obligations and leadership positions in different organizations.
He does plan to take extracurricular activities differently at FAMU.
"I plan to enjoy my freshman year before making too many commitments," Jepson said.
House was the treasurer for the Science Club and participated in Future Farmers of America while at BI and wants to stay involved during college.
"I plan on going to the center to look at all the clubs and see which one I would like to join," she said.
House is considering playing AASU tennis and may join a club or two.
For Jepson getting a high school diploma was actually a "stepping stone to the rest of life."
"High school has ended and you've just taken your foot off the stepping stone in to college," the salutatorian said.
"It (Graduation) was a starting point because I'm going to be going on to college and I have my whole life ahead of me," House said.
Jepson is the son of Paul and Dorla Jepson.
House's parents are Carl and Tessa House.