Jameson Harper '23 Recruiting Profile

I remember the Saturday mornings when I was probably eight or nine years old when my dad would wake me up early and we'd play a round together at the local nine-hole par three course. I was horrible, but I didn't know that. I always had a blast when we played. I never cared about where the ball went and much less about "shooting a score." It was always about enjoying time with my dad. I learned valuable lessons from those early years of playing, like patience, respect, sportsmanship, and not throwing the flagstick into the putting green while the head pro is watching. I didn't begin taking golf seriously until I was about twelve years old. My dad signed me up for a junior tournament out of the blue, and I remember anticipating the tournament with dread, estimating that I'd shoot around 60 (the tournament was only nine holes) because I had never played a full round keeping score. I'll never forget the look on my dad's face when he picked me up and I told him that I shot 48 and took second place. Despite that wonderful beginning, my golfing career hasn't always produced results like that. I struggled to control my mental game on the course and despite shooting some impressive rounds, I played quite a few of them pushing my cart along the fairway with my head down. Time passed, and my swing and scores improved, but my attitude did not. In early August of 2020, I played in the IJGA's Central District Championship, shot two rounds in the 90's, and failed to qualify for State. I didn't touch a club again for almost three months... and that ended up helping my golf game more than anything had before. I realized that golf is an awesome game, but it's just a game. A bad day on the golf course doesn't dictate how the rest of my day will go, and a bad score doesn't equal a bad person. My time away from golf helped me clear my head and appreciate the other parts of my life that don't involve swinging a club, and I was happier because of it. Eventually, the golf bug got me again, and I slowly started to play and practice more, and by the time high school golf came around I was consistently shooting in the mid to low 70's, but that wasn't the cool part. The cool part was my new attitude, how I grinded through being +6 after 4 holes and shooting 76, how I dealt with my bag falling into the pond on hole eight of the District Championship and still qualifying for High School State as an individual (I could barely hold onto the grips they were so wet), and pulling through a rough start to shoot even par and win my first golf event ever. The post-high school season hasn't been quite what I've hoped for, but I've kept that "grit" attitude to help me compete at big tournaments such as the Dropping Junior Championship and the RMSPGA Junior Championship. I expect to play in bigger events this year. I'll continue to develop my mental strength on and off the golf course, and encourage my teammates to do the same.

As far as academics, I have had a 4.0 GPA since 6th grade and I am on track to graduate from Kimberly High School as a Valedictorian with an Associate's Degree from the College of Southern Idaho. I served as the Sophomore Class Vice President last year and I'm enjoying serving as the Junior Class Representative this year. I am also a member of the National Honor Society and the National Society of High School Scholars. One aspect of my life that I focused on during my break from golf was my passion for languages, and I used that passion to learn Spanish. My unique improvement allowed me to skip Spanish 2 after getting approval from the school counselor and the Spanish teacher. So, I took Spanish 3 (a college course) my Sophomore year, finishing top of my class. I'm currently trying to learn Mandarin Chinese via a "comprehensible input" method endorsed by my favorite YouTubers. I took Honors U.S. History II and Honors English my Sophomore year, as well as several other dual credit classes. So far this year, I'm taking Honors Government, Honors English, Dual Credit Economics, Dual Credit Wellness, and Physics on my journey to graduate high school with an Associate's Degree.