Mike Ridaught
Camille Jackson joined the Keystone Heights Junior Senior High School golf team as a 7th-grader.
And for six consecutive years she was the No. 1 player and Captain. She was named the KHHS varsity girls golf Player of the Year every year on varsity.
Jackson, who was also on the varsity girls flag football team, was able to build some special bonds at an early age.
“Starting from my 7th grade year as a starter, we had two girls one grade ahead of me, which meant we were able to have the same team for five years,” she said. “We grew really close and they became like my second family.”
The senior finished her career with back-to-back trips to the state tournament, which was one of her favorite high school sports moments.
“In my junior year those two girls were seniors and it was our long time goal to make it to state as a team, which we had never accomplished before by always coming in 3rd when the top two got to go,” she explained. “We managed to pull out a qualifying team score and I couldn’t have been prouder. It was a trip I’ll never forget full of fond memories and good golf.”
The 2019 team went 19-0 during the regular season, followed by an 18-2 regular season record her senior year.
“Camille was everything to the Keystone golf program for six years,” said her dad Billy Jackson, who was also her head coach. “I don’t believe we would have accomplished a fraction of those championships without her. She also was a good leader and inspired the other girls to play better, always being positive.”
The Indians won six straight district titles from 2015-2020 (Camille was medalist in five, runner-up in the other), and Camille was a 5-time FHSAA Girls Golf state championship qualifier.
“Camille was definitely the anchor of this team and the captain of her ship,” Billy said. “During high school she also volunteered over 600 hours at our local food bank and at Ironwood golf course teaching younger kids at golf camps.”
But golf is just part of her many accolades.
She is academic college ready, with High Honors and Career Technical Education Honors. She has Scholar designation, Merit Designation, a Department of Education Gold Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish, and she was voted “Class Einstein” by her peers for Senior Superlative.
Camille also received the President’s Volunteer Service Award two consecutive years, and she was a KHHS student representative for the 2020 youth tour to Tallahassee sponsored by Clay Electric.
Billy said that coaching his daughter was a great experience that he wouldn’t trade for anything. He said being her coach and her dad just made it all the more enjoyable for him instead of just being one or the other.
“I remember early on in a big match, she had hit it in the woods and was going to thread the needle through the trees with a high risk, low reward shot and I told her to play it safe and chip out to the fairway and she said no I’m going for it,” he said. “At that point I said ‘as your coach if you don’t make it I am going to bench you for the next match’ so she chipped out and made a par instead of what could have been a disaster if she would’ve hit the trees. I never had to say that again and I think she learned when we were on the golf course, I was her coach.”
Camille said her favorite saying is from her coach/dad who said, “Don’t take yourself so seriously, nobody else does.”
But beyond the accolades, there are other things she will remember most about her time at Keystone Heights.
“The things I will remember most looking back at my high school career are definitely the friends I had and the memories we made together,” she said.
Camille has been accepted into the University of North Florida in Jacksonville where she will pursue a Bachelor’s in Business Management.
This is the latest in our summer “Senior Spotlight” series recognizing some of the top area student athletes from the Class of 2021.