Rachel Gregory has been named the BHS female Scholar Athlete of the Year, and she is also Brentwood Home Page’s pick for our Athlete of the Year. Rachel is described by faculty and friends as the “whole package” student in the classroom, on the track, and most importantly in the halls of BHS where she has touched the lives of so many.

Rachel has chosen two very uncommon, but extremely difficult events in track and field. She is a Junior Olympian pole vaulter and runs the 300-meter hurdles. Her personal best in the pole vault came this year at the Battle of Williamson County with a height of 10 feet, 6 inches. Her fastest hurdling effort was a time of 50.12 seconds at the Scott Hartman races this year also.

In 2009 Rachel placed 17th in the Junior Olympics in the pole vault, and is considered one of the nation’s best having competed extensively across the country. Rachel was on the BHS cross country team and basketball team her freshman through junior years. She received the Freshman of the Year Award in cross country, as well as the Most Valuable Runner her sophomore year and the Gold Award and Student Athlete Award of Merit her junior year.

In addition to her success in athletics, Rachel will graduate with a 4.2 GPA and has numerous leadership positions, volunteer experiences and club activities. She has been a Student Council representative all four years, student body treasurer in 12th, the National Honor Society student representative in 12th, and was appointed the treasurer for Girls State to name a few. Rachel was also very active with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes where she was the co-president her senior year. 

One of the highlights of Rachel’s senior year was being elected Homecoming Queen. She was also in the court her junior year. She has also been given the opportunity to learn the harp this year. “It is just something so different, so peaceful, I absolutely love it.”

Rachel will be attending Samford University and majoring in elementary education. Although recruited for many collegiate track teams, Rachel feels that is not the path for her. Her main focus while attending Samford will be “to impact the campus for Christ and bring glory to his kingdom,” Rachel said.

David and Debbie Gregory are Rachel’s parents, and her brothers are Robert and Josh.

Benjin Facer has led a nomadic life growing up, but landed on both feet while living in Brentwood and attending Ravenwood High School. Benjin’s (which is short for Benjamin) family, which includes five boys, has lived in six states and traveled extensively around the nation – 43 states in fact, and have spent as much time abroad.

All five Facer boys speak Spanish, and Benjin says their house is “never dull –  there is always someone to play basketball, football or rugby with." Benjin is the second oldest of the brothers.

The first fact that must be mentioned about Benjin Facer’s extraordinary life: He is the first student at Ravenwood High School to make a perfect score of 36 on the ACT. The second: He is 100% on free throws and 3-point shots as a senior on the Ravenwood basketball team, where he plays guard.

Of all Benjin’s experiences at Ravenwood, he says he will miss the basketball team the most. Another astonishing part of his high school career is that he accomplished all this while being treated for cancer. 

Benjin graduates with a 4.2 GPA and has received an academic scholarship to Brigham Young University.  He would like to pursue a career in the medical field, having learned so much at an early age about the medicine. “I feel the need to give back for all that was done for me.” 

He is also interested in the business/technology fields. After one year of college Benjin will spend 2 years on a mission trip –  he will find out where next February – and then back to BYU. Currently his older brother Graham is in Paraguay.

In addition to receiving the Brentwood Home Page’s Athlete of the Year, Benjin is the recipient of the Ravenwood Athletic Club Scholarship, most outstanding AP physics student; and winner of the regional Future Business Leaders of America, among others. He was also president of the Ravenwood’s National Honor Society and is an Eagle Scout.

Ravenwood’s athletic director and boys basketball coach Patrick Whitlock sums up what the student body and beyond think about Benjin: “I have been fortunate to coach some high character kids but none come close to Benjin. He is intelligent, hard-working, and has been an excellent ambassador for Ravenwood. He is going to be very successful and we all look forward to following his successes.”

 

Daniel Hagaman, superior athlete, scholar, and all-around good citizen, would like to be remembered at Brentwood High School for one thing … as one of the founding members of the “social organization,” the musical rap stars, The Byrdz. The group, complete with Byrdz T-shirts and Elmo backpacks, was hoping to make it big, but alas, Daniel will have to resort to plan B – attending Vanderbilt on a scholarship, where he will major in pre-med. He has also made plans to attend the University of North Carolina or Virginia for graduate school. 

Daniel graduates with a 4.27 GPA, while completing nine Advanced Placement classes. He has consistently been in the top 10 percent of his class for academics as a member of the Gifted program.

He has received more awards than space will allow to list, but a few highlights: the Princeton Book Award, Boys State, John Hopkins Scholar, Global Young Leaders Conference and the Academic Excellence Award Varsity Football. And the latest: the Brentwood Home Page’s Athlete of the Year.

Daniel’s athletic career at BHS included football, track and basketball. He also enjoys playing volleyball and tennis on the side. He broke the school record running the 4x200 and also runs the 4x100. Daniel was a receiver and outside linebacker on the football team, and received the speed/strength award and the BHS Scholar-Athlete Award. 

Daniel credits his football coach, Ron Crawford, as a major catalyst in his athletic and personal success. “Coach Crawford is an excellent motivator and teacher. We did hard work, but it was all productive and he knew exactly how to push us. Though all of my coaches at BHS helped form me to the person I am today.”

With whatever spare time he can scrounge up, Daniel volunteers at the Salvation Army, at both the Youth Summer Camps and Sunday Service. He has gone on two mission trips, volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, and works at Wildwood every summer as a swim coach and grill server.

Daniel’s parents are David and Martha Hagaman. His sister, Sarah, is a sophomore at Franklin, and brother Benjamin is in eighth grade at Grassland Middle.