Being a well-rounded student tends to be a positive thing for students. West Marion High School Salutatorian Isabella Jones is no exception with many interests that she takes seriously, including school, horses and art.
While she was thrilled to be salutatorian, Jones admits she was a little bit disappointed to not be the valedictorian, but she feels her classmate deserved it more than she did.
"I was very surprised to get the second spot. It was extremely close between the top three. Ka'Niyah (Dillon) deserved it. She worked harder than I did," Jones said. This is something I kind of always wanted in the back of my mind. I'm not going to say I worked as hard as I could."
She had a class in public speaking that wasn't hard but that had deadline dates that were different than usual, and she kept missing deadlines. She was worried for a minute that class would sink her ranking ,but she managed to pull out a good grade to keep her final GPA at 4.574.
Her favorite class has been Matt Conoly's U.S. history class. The hardest class she said she had was AP Biology. She took a total of 15 hours of dual enrollment classes.
"I hated that class," she said. "I loved the teacher, but the class was miserable."
Jones took the ACT two times and has a score of 26, which made for a tie in her junior year with Dillon and Kolton Peak.
Jones received the highest averages in different classes.
At the school's awards program on May 4, she received a $20,000 academic excellence scholarship.
Her plan is to attend the University of Southern Mississippi, majoring in biological sciences. After that, she will transfer to Auburn or Texas A&M for veterinary school where she will specialize in equine performance.
She loves barrel racing, going to races and working with horses. She just got started being serious about racing. Thanks to Melissa and Michael McDaniel, she has had an opportunity to meet people and go to some big runs. Jones will get to travel some this summer with Melissa going to barrel races, such as the MEGA barrel race in Jackson, where she is excited to run again for the second year.
An equine performance vet works with horses who are athletes in a similar way that physical therapists work with injured athletes. After vet school, Jones is unsure of where she will go specifically, but Texas and Oklahoma would present the most job opportunities for her.
She attended Beta Convention two years, where she placed in visual arts both years for graphite and mixed media.
Jones loves to draw and has already sold some pieces of her artwork. She likes to try different mediums, but mainly sticks to graphite or colored pencils. Her preferred subjects are people and horses.
Jones attends Morgantown Church of God and is a member of Wild Hart Photography's Wild Tribe. She is the daughter of Amy Jones and is the youngest child with four older brothers.
Jones wants to thank her mom, the Blockers, the McDaniels and her biggest supporter, Dale Holland.
Her advice to other students coming up behind her is to have fun, not stress too much and that one bad grade isn't the end of the world.
The verse Jeremiah 29:11 has meant a grade deal to her.
"'For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.' It always helped me to know there was a plan for me and that it was a good plan and that I was always going to be prosperous," she said.
