When Brownwood High School’s Class of 2021 holds its graduation at 7 p.m. Friday, May 28 at Gordon Wood Stadium, Ava Sparks-Hansen will walk the stage as valedictorian and Jonathan Hagood as salutatorian.
Sparks-Hansen, the daughter of Shawntay Sparks-Hubbard and Jason Hubbard, said of the valedictorian honor, “I’ve been pushing for this since eighth grade because academics have been what I’ve striven for. Whenever I was younger my mother got me academic-based gifts like books, flash cards and a dictionary which I read. I love learning, I love reading, I love knowledge. I was driving myself as hard as I could to push and strive for this and it doesn’t feel like it’s real that it happened. I’m very excited I get to represent by class.”
Hagood, the son of Nicholas and Stacy Hagood, said of his salutatorian accolade, “It’s amazing because I’ve been working for this since elementary school. I’ve loved learning and I’ve loved reading books. The bluebonnet readings that we did in intermediate where we had to read all 20 books, that really was the foundation for me wanting to learn and my love of learning. I would read those books and reading became a big part of who I am. From there, I just started reading everything and expanding my knowledge.”
For Sparks-Hansen, her standing in the class hasn’t quiet sunk in yet.
“I’ve known where I’ve been the entire time but I never felt like I was actually going to get it in my head, I never assumed that spot,” she said. “While I’m not necessarily shocked because I’ve been tracking my GPA since my freshman year, it just doesn’t feel real yet that I did get it.”
Hagood, meanwhile, was surprised he was able to climb as high as he did in the final class rankings.
“Freshman year I moved back here after Christmas, I came from a bigger school and I was only there for six months, but the competition there was tremendous,” he said. “When I came back here I was No. 11 so I just thought I’m going to go into this and work my hardest and not go off the rankings and just work hard, and then where ever I end up is where I end up. I was always striving to get there and every year I’d move up a little bit. I just told myself where ever I end up is fine with me, but obviously I was hoping.”
Sparks-Hansen plans to attend to Baylor University to, “study neuro-science and hopefully something in the music field as well. I would like to, after Baylor, go to medical school and become a neurologist that specializes in musical therapy.”
Sparks-Hansen experienced the medical condition Periventricular Leukomalaci (PVL) – characterized by the death or damage and softening of the white matter, the inner part of the brain that transmits information between the nerve cells and the spinal cord, as well as from one part of the brain to another – during birth, which in part has led to her career choice.
“On the MRI scans it’s mild, the trauma that happened, but it doesn’t tell you the symptoms you’re going to have,” she said. “I don’t want to say I suffer from it, but I have sensory issues where all my senses are hyperactive. I had to train myself to wear jeans, I couldn’t wear them until I was 15. It was a struggle to be in the band because all the sounds were overwhelming, but because of how much I love the band I pursued it. That’s where the music plans came in.”
Sparks-Hansen further elaborated, stating, “Music was my type of therapy whenever I was going through brain trauma. I want to be the translator for those who fall through the cracks of the medical world kind of like I did. My condition, you either have nothing or you’re paralyzed or dead and I’m neither of those. There’s so many people like that in the world that don’t get noticed, don’t get recognition, and don’t get the medical help that they really need and they just get passed off. That’s what happened to me so I used music to help remedy everything that was happening in my life, because you can’t medicate what I have. There’s a lot of people who can’t medicate what they have and I want to be either the spokesperson who can translate to their support team or help someone by being their physician and saying I can get what you’re going through, maybe not exactly, but I have some background to help you. That’s all I wanted when I was little was someone who understood me.”
Hagood is headed for Oklahoma Christian University to major in accounting. “After that I want to follow it up and get a masters in business,” he said.
Hagood’s career choice was influenced by his grandfather.
“When I was younger my grandpa was the president of Comanche National Bank,” he said. “I would go and shadow him and see the daily operations. He was a big numbers guy and I am a big numbers guy, very precise. I’ve always loved math and knew I wanted to do something in math and this felt right. I love accounting, especially doing it in high school and getting a little feel for it. I also want to get an MBA so later in life I can branch off into maybe real estate or there’s banking and other things to fall back on.”
Extracurricular activities for Sparks-Hansen included vice president of NHS, band officer over alto saxophones, debate team, and volunteering at the Corinne T. Smith Animal Center.
For Hagood, he also was a member of the band where he served as an officer over the drum line and played the bass drum, while also taking part in National Honor Society, academic UIL on the social studies and computer science teams. Hagood was also a member of the STEM program, the robotics and computer science programs and he recently received his drone pilot’s license.
Both Sparks-Hansen and Hagood spoke passionately about band directors David and Lesley Lambert.
“Mr. and Mrs. Lambert gave me a chance my sophomore year to join band and I’d never touched a instrument, I’d never played music, I didn’t even know how to read it,” Hagood said. “They gave a chance to me and because of that I’m super grateful because I learned valuable skills that I can take with me later in life, even if it’s not in the band world per say, like leadership skills and accountability.
Sparks-Hansen added, “The Lamberts really care for their students and they made such an impact on me that I have applied and have been accepted into the Baylor band. Band wasn’t so much a group of people, it was a family.”
Sparks-Hansen also expressed her appreciation toward teachers Kenan Boland and Telise Murray.
“They are my calculus and debate teachers and they’re great,” she said “They treat you not just as a student but as a person and they really invested in me to make sure I not only understood what I was doing but I was doing it correctly, and I was comfortable. I went through challenges but they weren’t unbearable.”
Among other memorable high school experiences, Sparks-Hansen mentioned the Envision program.
“Brownwood High School does give great opportunities for those who strive for it,” she said. “Through the Envision program I got to go to Johns Hopkins University and learn how to pack and press a wound, I went into a shock trauma center and saw what was really going on and I got to do a faux bone fracture reduction surgery. I got to be a part of the medical world as much as I could at a high school student, gown up and everything. Not only did I make some friends I still have today, it cemented that I wanted to be in the medical field. It was on the best experiences of my life.”
Hagood spoke of participating in Texas Boys State American Legion Camp.
“One thing I was involved that also made a huge impact, the end of my junior year I was chosen by the faculty to attend to Texas Boys State American Legion Camp,” he said. “That camp was phenomenal. With COVID it was just virtual, but we got to participate in what Senators and House Representatives do, their daily lives in Washington, D.C., how they pass bills and things like that. It was super neat because it was sort of hands-on but just over the computer, but that taught me a great deal about leadership and also about using your right as Americans to vote. There’s a lot of people that don’t vote, but it’s important. We also got to hear from phenomenal speakers as well.”
Looking 10 years down the road, Sparks-Hansen said of her future plans, “Hopefully I’m finishing medical school by then and starting residency somewhere and learning about neurology. I am also hoping to pursue research at Baylor so I’m hoping I will be able to continue that as well. I would also like to do something musical in my life, whether it’s participating in creating music or being a part of a musical, just something music-based.”
Hagood added, “I see myself working in an accounting firm. I’d rather work for a smaller corporation. I don’t know if I’d want to own my own firm.”
Both students also expressed gratitude to their families for their support.
“I’d like to thank my parents and my brother,” Hagood said. “They’ve always been here for me through the bad times and the good times. Without them I would definitely not be here today.”
Sparks-Hansen added, “I’d like to thank my mom, she’s been my rock during this entire process, not just high school but my life. It’s always been she and I against the world since I was little. She is the biggest reason as to why I am who I am today. Also, my stepfather Jason took on being not only being the father of three girls, but also an 8-year-old girl who got thrown into the family as well and he handled that with such grace and dignity. I couldn’t thank him enough for helping as much as he has.”
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BROWN COUNTY VALEDICTORIAN/SALUTATORIAN SCHEDULE
May 18 – Blanket, Brookesmith
May 19 – May, Zephyr
May 20 – Early, Bangs
May 21 – Brownwood