Lacey Howell doesn’t run Bryan County High School. It just seems that way.
Howell, a personable junior, is seemingly involved in nearly everything going on at Bryan County. She's connected athletically, politically, socially, academically--you name it and Howell is there. Volunteer may well be her middle name.
“When I started high school my mother (Rachel) advised me to get involved,” Howell said. “She told me, ’When you get to high school, you’re not going to wish you had participated but you’re going to wish you had done that so be prepared so sign up for everything you can. You don’t want to graduate and have any regrets'.”
And that’s exactly what Howell has done. She hasn’t left too many stones unturned.
“My goal in ninth grade was to sign up for everything,” Howell said. “Sure enough, that’s what I did and now all the admin, if they ever need anything done, they call on me to help out and I end up doing it.”
Howell got her start as a manager for the football team and she’s been doing that for three years. Ditto for being class president all three years. She’s had two first places in GHSA literary state competition, she’s a member of the Young Leaders of Bryan County and the school student council.
While there’s no doubt a myriad of other involvements, she is especially proud of being a member of the first Redskins girls golf team to qualify for the state tournament.
Bryan County’s boys team also qualified for the first time ever for this year’s Class A-DII tournament which will be held next Monday at Bartram Trail Golf Club in Evans.
For everyone but Howell this will be a totally new experience. A third-year golfer, she qualified for the state tournament last year as an individual.
Qualifying as an individual does not, however, begin to compare with qualifying as a team, Howell said.
“I’m excited because this year we’re going as a team,” Howell said. “This is the first year I’ve played with a team. It makes it so much more fun and meaningful.”
Howell has four freshmen teammates in Ava Conley, Makenna Reagan , Brooklynn Casson and Isabella Collins. With the two low scorers advancing to state Howell and Conley will be teeing it up after helping the Redskins finish third in the sectional tournament behind Hawkinsville and Metter.
Howell has no illusions about the Redskins chances of winning but rather she is looking to learn and gain from the experience and that is what she is stressing to Conley and the boys team.
“This is huge for our school,” Howell said. “It’s huge because it’s grown more interest within everybody else. When it’s one kid playing nobody pays that much attention.
“But when you build up a team and the team gets the excitement of everybody else around them then people want to join and be a part of that. I think with our success this year more kids will want to join the golf team. I can kind of see it taking off.”
And when it comes to taking off, Howell said she will be looking for more things to join this coming school year.
“I’m a Redskin,” Howell said. “I’ll always be a Redskin. I love my school and community and want to do what I can to make them better.”
