Senior Portrait: Travonn Bond

First he took. Then he gave. Wednesday, on the eve of ’s graduation, Travonn Bond received.

 Bond’s senior year began with a conference-best 11 interceptions en route to the and all-state honors as a safety. After a successful basketball season, Bond took to the public speaking circuit—delivering words to younger students and parents about student life. Wednesday morning he was showered with honors and scholarships.

“It’s been an unpredictable year. You always think about your senior year and how amazing it will be. It actually was pretty amazing,” Bond said. “Going to states for football, being an all-state safety, having a pretty good basketball season, going into the playoffs. Having a lot of opportunities, scholarship opportunities and opportunities to go speak to different groups of people. It was definitely eventful, I would say.”

Bond will start his post-high school career at Bowie State. He hopes to eventually transfer to North Carolina Central.

After finding his name in headlines and in news broadcasts, Bond is hoping to be the one writing the headlines or speaking on broadcasts.

“I’m becoming more comfortable with it. And I feel like I’m a people person and I could succeed in that area,” Bond said.

He credits his interest in journalism to his classes in journalism and yearbook at Havre de Grace. But he also feels his public speaking this year has played a large role in his future.

“It almost came out of nowhere. It’s crazy because when I was younger, I had basically stage fright. I could always talk around my friends and everything. But if I get in front of a big group of people I don’t know, I used to get real nervous." he said. "Now, I’m becoming more comfortable because I’ve had, I’d say, at least three opportunities in the last few months to speak to large groups of people that I don’t know. I’ve become more comfortable with it. And I actually like to be able to express (myself) to other people and it feels like you can help.”

Bond is also involved in student government as senior class secretary, serves in peer mediation, and is a member of the yearbook and journalism clubs.

Bond made a name for himself on the football field in 2010, intercepting two passes in the waning minutes of the state semifinal to secure a berth in the championship game—where he grabbed another errant pass from the opposition.           

Bond was no slouch in basketball either, landing on the . He was the Warriors’ pace-setter at point guard, and a sharp-shooter from long range, finishing seventh in the conference in three-point shooting percentage at 33.3 percent. He was third in free throw percentage at 83.8 percent, and fourth in assists at 4.6 per game.

While he'll  attend Bowie State in the fall, there are no plans for him to play collegiate sports in the short-term. He hopes to transfer to North Carolina Central after one year at Bowie.

“When I came into high school I was basically basketball football, those were my sports. As I got older, I realized it can’t hurt to get involved, especially for colleges. Colleges look for all the extra things, beyond sports, beyond academics,” Bond said. “I tried to put them together and just get involved.”

He walked away with a few awards at Wednesday’s —a Senatorial Scholarship from Sen. Nancy Jacobs, the Jo’van Brooks Memorial Scholarship, the Marlene Thomas Memorial Scholarship, the Forton-Lee Memorial Scholarship, and the Havre de Grace High School Citizenship Award. He was also the school's representative at the Al Cesky Memorial Scholarship Banquet, another $2,000 scholarship.

Earlier in his senior year, he was .

He said above all else, he’ll miss the close-knit community that surrounds Havre de Grace High School.

“Knowing everybody—even inside and outside of school. I might just be driving somewhere, and I either know somebody or somebody knows me,” Bond said. “I’ll probably miss that the most, the small town, everybody knows each other. It’s just a nice feeling. “