Everyone seems to know Jaxson Jewell on the Deerfield Beach High School campus. He’s not just a star athlete, he’s the kid who has a smile and a complement for all the Bucks he sees.
“You never know what someone’s going through that can make their day,” Jaxson said.
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To be a successful quarterback, you need leadership skills, and Jaxson has them. The Bucks stop and start with him.
“I would say I’m more of a leader by example, I like to show young guys things instead of telling them, telling them things, so whether that’s coming to practice on time, being the first one on the field, last one off the field, whether that’s a drill I’m teaching my young freshmen or just coaching up a senior, hey I want you to run this route,” Jaxson explained.
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He plays football, basketball, runs track, and he’s brilliant in the classroom. Jaxson is in the International Baccalaureate program, taking and acing the hardest classes his school offers, with his sights set on becoming an aerospace engineer.
I asked one of his teachers how often do kids like Jaxson come along.
“Literally never, I talk about this with other teachers, we have conversations like this, he is special, he’s one of a kind,” said Mathew Jones, who teaches Theory of Knowledge, an IB class. “He’s in another category of every single student I’ve ever been in contact with.”
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Playing three sports plus the debate team eats up all of Jaxson’s free time, so time management is a key to his success.
“I make sure my assignments are completed, make sure they’re submitted and I make sure they’re done with integrity and effort, so every assignment I put myself to, it’s gonna be done with 100% effort, whether it’s two questions of math or an essay I have to write, it’s always gonna be done with effort and I feel that if you put the same effort into anything you do in life or school assignments, you’re gonna be successful eventually,” Jaxson said.
His classmates say they draw inspiration and motivation from hanging around their unpretentious friend.
“I look up to him as a role model, I think he’s a really good guy,” said Jason Hecht, a senior.
“His ability to balance so many other sports and academics by also getting good grades, just seeing that is inspiration in itself,” added Abid Islam, also a senior.
“He’s like everyone else, he’s not a robot or anything like that, he’s a genuine person,” explained Chad Carmichael, one of Jaxson’s track teammates.
Jaxson was recruited by several Ivy League football programs but decided to become a Midshipman and play for the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He knows that requires him to serve five years in the Navy after graduation.
“So I do love this country, I’m fine with the five year commitment, obviously,” Jaxson said. “Sometimes stuff is gonna be hard but you have to see the bigger picture, if stuff was easy, everybody would be doing it, right, so you have to look at the bigger picture on where you want to be in life, and once you start looking at that, the stuff you’re doing in the current, it just becomes easy, becomes a process,” Jaxson said.
With a life philosophy like that, it’s no surprise that Jaxson Jewell is a winner. The Navy is getting a gem.