North Springs Student-Athlete Signs Scholarship To Run At UCF

From North Spring HS: Senior Jayda Drake-Howard who recently signed a full, 5 year athletic scholarship to run track at the University of Central Florida, chose to attend North Springs Charter High School from her home in Fairburn because of the school’s magnet programs in arts and sciences, not the school’s award-winning girls’ track program.

“I wanted to come to North Springs because it was so diverse and had so many more opportunities and classes,” she explained. She is a dual magnet student with a focus on ceramics in the visual arts magnet and on healthcare science - a career academy pathway and math/science magnet offering.

“I knew nothing about girls’ track at North Springs.” She did however know her future track teammate Mikayala Dunn. “After volleyball season at North Springs ended, I asked Mikayla about conditioning for track. I met Coach Carroll who said she saw potential if I was willing to work hard.”

She was willing. “Jayda has worked so hard, so hard,” said both Coach Patti Carroll, North Springs’ PE Department Chair and Antonio McKay, the school’s community coach and former Olympic Gold Medalist at her recent signing ceremony. “We are extremely proud of Jayda.”

Drake-Howard has a 3.9 GPA and says she knows how to balance her priorities, “I am a student athlete but a student first. It was really important to me to keep my grades up and I try to do my homework at school. Once I get home from practice I really don’t have time to anything but eat and go to sleep and then get up and start the process over the next day.” She trains or competes with the team seven days a week and thanks her mother for the years of driving her every day to North Springs.

She also credit her coaches for her success. “I wouldn’t be here in this position without Coach Carroll and Coach McKay,” she said. “They are amazing and all these years of coming up every day have paid off. But I am still going to keep working,” she said. “ You have to be passionate about this sport because the grind never stops.”

She was offered full scholarships by the University of Iowa and California State University at Fresco too, but chose UCF for their sports program and beautiful campus and the fact that her future coach is the “only female to win an NCAA Division 1 title.”

While she runs at UCF she will be pursuing a degree in sports medicine with the goal of becoming a physical therapist.

Image Courtesy of North Spring HS