Jackson Hamilton "sees the big picture"
Jackson Hamilton "sees the big picture"
OCHS valedictorian promotes the value of civic engagement
Though it may seem vanishingly rare, there’s still a way to participate in civic life without being vindictive or idiotic. It’s called reasoned, intelligent engagement, and Orange County High School’s 2024 valedictorian Jackson Hamilton intends to make a career of it.
I had the pleasure of talking at length with Hamilton on a recent Saturday afternoon. Thoughtful and gently humorous, Hamilton plans to major in political science at MIT. The prospect of getting to know Boston and plunging into a vibrant mix of people and cultures excites him, but the former student council president told me he values his small-town roots in Orange.
“It’s been nice to have been in a small, tight-knit community. … Many people I've known for almost my whole life, like my best friend I've known since preschool,” he said. “I've been able to find my like-minded peers. I've also been able to have some constructive disagreements and discussions.”
Hamilton got involved in civic activities at a young age. He joined the Orange County Youth Council in eighth grade and teamed up with other young people to inform peers about the health risks of smoking and vaping. Hamilton said the youth council also met with lawmakers and visited the General Assembly. His interest in politics and civic engagement was further stimulated when he and his best friend, Hayden Irby, began attending events at the UVA Center for Politics, where Hayden’s father, Daman Irby, works.
Hamilton loves a good debate. On that front, he speaks admiringly of OCHS English teacher Kimberly Crow, whose classes he took for three years, from 10th grade through his senior year. He told me that Crow often held debates related to books the class was reading and encouraged students to pose their own questions as they conversed.
“It’s a civil discussion—it’s not an argument,” Hamilton recalled. “It’s so interesting because it's about books, but it's also not about books because we usually end up relating books to modern issues. Like when we were talking about Of Mice and Men [by John Steinbeck], we ended up relating the conversation to modern treatment of women in society. That was an eye-opening discussion for me because another student brought up the point that in some ways, women now are still not treated the same way socially as men. That was really something I hadn’t thought of.”
“They never tried to push me”
Hamilton is the son of Thomas and Betsy Hamilton of Orange. His father works in legal publishing, and his mother teaches at Prospect Heights Middle School. When he was growing up, his parents accommodated his eager pursuit of knowledge.
“They never tried to push me or put any sort of pressure on me. They just encouraged me when I've expressed interest in learning things—like when I expressed interest in reading, they always helped me get to the library and get books,” he said. “Even in high school, they never really put pressure on me to do well in school. I really put, if anything, more on myself.”
When I asked Hamilton about challenges he’s faced, he mentioned one in particular. “Since I was little, I've had a speech disorder, apraxia, and I've done speech therapy since eighth grade. I finished that recently. And in the past few years, I feel like I've overcome an initial fear of public speaking to become a really good public speaker.”
Laurie Limoge Jamerson, his technical drawing teacher and OCHS’s student council advisor, vouches for that. Hamilton was one of her students during the Covid-19 pandemic, when classes met online. She got him involved in student council and mentored him as “he grew into a confident public speaker—quite a change from the student that I Zoomed with four years ago,” Jamerson emailed me.
Hamilton honed his public speaking skills at Boys State, in statewide student council meetings and as a member OCHS’s highly successful Academic Quiz Team. He also addressed the school board to advocate for student representation on the board. When the time came for him to speak at graduation, the newly minted valedictorian was confident he could do a good job.
In his speech, he thanked Jamerson, Crow and his running club coach, Larry Kilby, for their support and influence, and urged his fellow graduates to create a vision for what they want to be doing decades from now, along with a roadmap for getting there. He also pointed out that “the simple act of talking to people face-to-face” can help in achieving one’s long-term goals.
An uphill battle against apathy at OCHS
Hamilton said that he and his friends in the Blue Ridge Virginia Governor’s School shared an interest in local politics, especially the Orange County School Board’s activities. But when he tried to get other OCHS students to think about the role of government and politics in their lives, his efforts met with limited success.
“I feel like people probably knew something about national politics, but most of my peers just never really wanted to talk about or think about it. … When I was trying to register students to vote last year—this was part of my Blue Ridge Virginia Governor’s School senior project—I did run into a lot of apathy among the general student body.”
He sensed that the apathy grew out of limited understanding: “People my age don't really understand how much government actually affects them, especially in local elections. And they don’t feel that they can actually make a difference by voting or by participating in government in other ways, such as reaching out to elected officials. They just don't think there’s anything they can do to impact government.”
When I asked whether he plans to run for office someday, Hamilton said he’s interested in the “data side” of politics and expects he’ll mostly work behind the scenes. However, he allowed that he’d like to run for a local position at some point. In Orange County, perhaps? “I have no idea,” he replied with a laugh.
“Even if it’s completely boring to them …”
Hamilton does have some ideas for fostering civic engagement and building community at OCHS. Given the chance to change a few things, he would reinstate the tradition of a student reading the morning announcements over the public intercom—a simple way, he believes, to puff the sails of school spirit. He would add a journalism class to the curriculum. (Hear, hear!) And he’d make sure civics and government classes covered local government in a meaningful, practical way. To that end, he would have civics classes go beyond rote memorization of local elected officials’ names, and he’d require OCHS government classes to attend a school board or board of supervisors’ meeting.
Breaking into a smile, he said, “Even if it’s completely boring to them, which [a board meeting] may well be and often is, at least it will give them more information. … At least they would understand what the local government is like, and they would get that experience.”
Jamerson, his mentor at OCHS, is proud of all Hamilton accomplished as an energetic student leader: “He helped to rewrite our school’s bylaws, hosted voter registration for students and held a mock election. He ran for a regional representative position in the state student government and won. He helped plan and lead a workshop that we had at Montpelier and proved that he can lead and direct his peers.”
It’s obvious she thinks highly of her ace student. “He is a caring young man who is concerned with his classmates’ well-being,” she wrote to me. “He sees the big picture and looks out for everyone.”
Hamilton underscored that point in his graduation speech: “Even though we are each pursuing our own dreams, we have the power to help the people around us achieve their dreams by taking the extra effort to support them when they need a helping hand, an ear to listen to them or a shoulder to cry on.”
Meanwhile, in Barboursville
If you like your Shakespeare light and fun, served beneath a starry sky, head to Barboursville for the Four County Players’ production of The Comedy of Errors at the Historic Barboursville Ruins. Presented by the local theater company and Barboursville Vineyards, and directed by “Derby” Thomas, the play runs through July 27. Food and drink will be sold on site, and if you feel like splurging on an elaborate picnic supper from Palladio Restaurant, you can do that, so long as you order it in advance.
We the Peeps
The next issue of Byrd Street will launch a series called We the Peeps, featuring local people whose resourcefulness, kindness and good humor make our community a pleasure to live in. First up: Virginia Thompson, who runs the Rapidan Post Office.
Obituaries
For local obits, go to the Byrd Street home page and click on the links for Preddy and Johnson funeral homes. Of note: Janice "Jane" Gipson Lutz, 91, of Orange, and John Luther Lanham, 84, of Rhoadesville.
Great profile. And hilarious title for your new We the Peeps series. I love your writing & this publication.
What a wonderful article about Jackson. His example for his Orange peers is just getting started. Thank you for highlighting him and his achievements.