Senior spotlight: Jackson mcGrady Class of 2024

We did Jackson’s micro session in probably the coldest conditions I have ever worked in without being able to wear gloves. We couldn’t reschedule his session for yet another snow storm since we had a deadline. So we decided to find a new location that didn’t have snow covering every inch of it and went for it. It was so cold I couldn’t think straight and I needed to retreat to my car between takes to get mobility back in my fingers, but you know we still had fun even if it required me to pull out my most ridiculous fake laugh to get the right shots in a serious hurry. I loved learning more about Jackson through this interview and I hope you do too!

Name: Jackson McGrady

Age: 17

School: Boyd J. Michael III Technical High School - Engineering Academy

Nickname(s): Jack

Alright Jackson, let’s talk about your faves

Color: Pine Green

Tv show: Game of Thrones

Book: The Giver

Subject in school: English

Teacher: Mr. Thomas

Pastime: Walking around town on a clear day.  

Hobbies/extracurriculars: Chess, card games, sewing, etc.

Top three memories of high school: - Eating lunch Junior year - Homecoming 2023 - Literally any day in Engineering where my friend Branden is joking around.

Clothing item: My RealTree double knee camouflage pants.

Lunch spot : El Ranchero Mexican is my favorite!

About the future…

You’re done with high school, what is your next move? Hagerstown Community College

What do you hope to be doing in the next 5 years and where? I hope to be apart of some larger scale projects in the Engineering field, mainly in product design and manufacturing at a big company.

What’s the number one world issue you would solve if you could? Hunger 

What is your dream career (even if it’s just a dream) ? I’d love to be a fashion designer or just a brand director, anything having to do with clothes.  Oh man- ME TOO! Fashion/brand design and development is so fascinating and exciting to me.

Just for funsies… 

Jackson - The Movie: what celebrity should play you? Ryan Gosling- Yes, I can see this being a good choice for you 🤔

And on that note, if someone wrote a novel about your life what should it be called? Who? What? Why? How?

What song will you never forget the lyrics to? “Papercut” -Linkin Park Not to age myself but that whole album just blew my middle school mind when it came out 🤯 …Still on my running playlists today.

Since you mentioned that song, is it your favorite?  Not my favorite song ever, but one I’ll always know the lyrics to.

Pretend money ain’t no thang- where are you gonna go on vacation right now? Ireland

You can only eat one thing for the rest of your life. What’s it gonna be? Burritos. 😲 I consider myself to be a burrito connoisseur! Don’t let me forget to tell you about where you can get the best Chili Colorado burrito ever to grace the planet.

If your pet could talk, what do you think they might say about you? They would say that I’m a very good owner, however I am not good at picking up on queues of when potty time is. 

What is your proudest (maybe not biggest) accomplishment so far: Definitely all the work I’ve done at my apprenticeship, everything I learned has culminated into each project I try at.  Jackson has an apprenticeship at DVF Corp in Hagerstown

Any obscure talents?I can burp really loud.  And now I’m wondering how loud is “really loud” 🤔 Lion roar loud or like a foghorn in a living room loud? 🤨

What’s a skill you don’t have but want to learn? Piano I used to play when I had a piano. I’m telling you Jackson, I think we could be buds.

Don’t miss the picture of Jackson from his freshman year at the bottom of his senior portrait session!