Grand County High School’s students of the month for May are Brycen Daniel Haycock and Dasia Faye Gibbs.
Brycen Haycock, a senior, is the son of Stephanie and Eric Haycock. Brycen reports that his favorite class was “Chemistry because I loved the subject and thought it was very interesting and fascinating.” His most challenging course was AP Calculus “because we get around an hour or more of homework a night and the subject is very difficult and confusing.”
Brycen was on the basketball team during his freshman to junior years. He has been active in the National Honor Society throughout high school and has participated in many service projects through that organization. He also helped coach Junior Jazz basketball and was a group leader for his church’s Vacation Bible School.
He works at True Value and has been there for over four years. As he says, “I do a little bit of everything: stocking, delivering, making paint, customer assistance, managing inventory and being cashier.”
RaeLynn Mason, Grand County High School’s counseling secretary, reports that Brycen “shows how important his education is by the classes he participated in.”
Mason explains that Brycen could have graduated early, but that he chose to stay to the end “to be a part of our school.”
She said he took a combination of college and AP courses. Mason further adds that Brycen “sets an example in a subtle but consistent way. He is the quiet core that runs communities.”
Mason says that Brycen attends most school activities and athletic events to support his peers.
Brycen says that his favorite memory from high school “was our history trip where we visited Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York. This was a life-changing trip and something I will always remember. We visited so many cool places, had amazing chaperones and my fellow classmates are some of the best people.”
Brycen will be attending Weber State University on an academic scholarship this fall.
When pressed for advice for others, he offered this: “Make the most out of the four years you have because it goes fast — especially senior year. Make sure to do everything so that you have no regrets. Don’t be afraid to do something — join a sports team, make new friends, go to dances and events. High school is what you make it, so make sure you have no regrets.”
Dasia Gibbs, also a senior, was raised by her grandparents, La Donna Switzer-Hawn and Larry Switzer-Hawn. Dasia’s most challenging course was government because memorizing and understanding complex laws is not easy for her.
But she says one of her favorite classes was foods and nutrition because “I enjoy cooking and learning about food.”
Dasia is known for her mouth-watering baking. She also loves her medical anatomy course because she “loves learning about how different diseases affect the body.”
In fact, her exposure to her medical anatomy and physiology coursework made her realize that she wanted a career in nursing as opposed to the culinary arts.
Her teacher of that course, Traci Carling, has so much to say about Dasia: “I have been so impressed with Dasia this last year … she has been an all-around dream student for me as a medical anatomy teacher. Each day she has come into class genuinely wanting to learn about the human body. She is not afraid to ask questions when she does not understand a concept and will continue working until she does understand. She is a hard worker that is always on task in my class. She is respectful and kind to those around her. Because Dasia is so humble and just focuses on doing what is asked of her, she is often overlooked and not recognized for the smart, inquisitive, hardworking and determined young lady that she truly is.”
Some of her proudest moments in high school include spirit week. She loves that time because “our school really comes together. This last spirit week was bitter sweet since it was my last one . . . I hope they continue to have a good time after my class is gone.”
Also, she says her favorite memory from high school is “the yearly talent show because it’s a time when everyone supports everyone. Even if the performance wasn’t the audience’s ‘cup of tea’, we still applaud and are supportive.”
Dasia was also involved in the school community through volleyball and the Prom Committee, in addition to working at Yetis for two years as manager.
Her advice is for students to take advantage of concurrent enrollment which are college classes taken through the high school. She initially thought that she was going to go into a technical trade so she did not take them, but she wishes she had taken better advantage of this offering.
“I feel like it would’ve helped me in my college decisions,” she says.
Dasia plans to continue her education at Dixie State University where she will study nursing.
