Student of the Month

By Ryan McGahan

“Student of the Month” highlights some of our area’s brightest young minds, what they’re doing and where they’re going. Have a student you think deserves a mention? Email news@thegabber.com.

Bryce Springfield, a senior at Boca Ciega High School, was recently accepted into Princeton University with a full-ride scholarship.

“When I initially saw the acceptance, I couldn’t believe it. I thought, ‘Surely this is a mistake,’” Springfield said.

After spending most of his life in Austin, TX, Bryce moved to Florida in the summer of 2017, and wasted no time settling in. At Bogie he founded the Students for Economic Democracy, which runs voter registration drives and phone banking meetings to improve voter turnout, and became the captain of the Academic Team, “which is pretty much just a bunch of nerds competing to see who knows the most trivia between different schools,” as he puts it.

Outside of school, Bryce has volunteered at homeless shelters, worked at the St. Pete Store and Visitor Center, visited Norway, and competed in his longtime hobby, speedcubing, where challengers race to solve Rubik’s cubes as fast as possible (Bryce averages at about 11 seconds).

While he’s excited to go to his dream school, where he hopes to focus on social studies, he says he’s not ready to leave quite yet.

“I really love St. Pete and, you know, I haven’t even lived here most of my life, but I just feel really connected to this place more than the other places that I’ve been,” he said.

Q: Is there anyone you’d like to thank for helping you along the way?

A: My mom. Being a single mother, she’s been the only one who’s supported our household. We faced a lot of issues with poverty, unemployment, health care, under-coverage. We’ve moved between several metropolitan areas, even faced homelessness in certain times. So, you know, having that reward, as you know, I thought it was a really big relief, not only for me, but also for her...Also I couldn’t have done it without the help of excellent teachers... particularly my social studies teacher, Ms. Darbois, and my calculus teacher, Mr. Lynch.

Q: If you had to give one piece of advice to a freshman, what would it be?

A: One thing that I really wish that I had done is appreciate the friends that you have while you’re in high school because, you know, you’re never gonna have that same experience again, so you can really appreciate it... [Also] this year, I’m taking like, eight AP courses, which is really stressful for me, and I’m sure it would be for a lot of people. So… don’t stress yourself out too much with school because there’s more things to a good application, a good life in the future, and a good career, other than just how well you do in school.

Q: If you were able to tell everyone who reads this one thing, what would it be?

A: I would say, “Question everything; follow your interests.” That’s all.

Bryce Springfield