Bryce Gibson. Photography courtesy of Keri Gibson.
Over the summer, Bryce Gibson interned in the engineering department at Raytheon. While he was there, Gibson was tasked with creating a product that solves a problem. An athlete himself, he designed a prototype of a protective padding that would prevent football players from seriously injuring their ribs.
The internship was meaningful for the senior at Hillcrest High School. It was a forward step in pursuit of mechanical or computer hardware engineering as a career. And it was significant on a more personal level.
“My grandpa actually worked at Raytheon, which I feel like was really cool, so I got to experience what he did whenever he was still with us,” Gibson says.
Though Gibson’s summer was busy with engineering and other activities, there’s still plenty to look forward to in his final year of high school. On the academic front, he’ll be the president of the National Honor Society and an international baccalaureate student. With college looming in the near future, Gibson’s still working on applications and essays. Rice University is his first choice, and he’s also considering the University of Texas at Austin, Purdue University and Georgia Tech.
“Especially for me, being in IB, where I feel like the classes are as rigorous as they can get at Hillcrest, the lack of time from having to practice and showing up to the school at 6 a.m. for practice does make it a lot harder as an athlete to keep your grades up,” Gibson says.
Gibson is also hoping the basketball team will be able to clinch a spot in the playoffs, a goal they haven’t reached in the past three years, though they’ve been right on the cusp. The new coaching staff and sophomores should help with that, Gibson says. He’s been a power forward on the varsity squad since his freshman year, though he’s been playing the sport since second grade.
“As a little kid I played center, but as everybody else around me started getting taller, my height was less of an advantage,” he says.
With basketball practices scheduled for the mornings this year, Gibson joined the robotics club. He’ll also have more responsibilities as NHS president.
Gibson was elected by his peers for that position, but he was nominated by his English teacher for the Racial Equity Student Advisory Committee. Last year, he and other Dallas ISD students met virtually to discuss how school could be improved for all students. Gibson appreciated that staff members were willing to listen to students’ concerns and ideas.
With athletics, rigorous academics, extracurriculars and even a weekend job at Spring Creek Barbeque, Gibson is a well-rounded student. But in his free time, he’s just like many other teenage boys.
“Well, I like to play video games,” he says.
