
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 11, 1994                   TAG: 9406170111
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By CHRISTIAN TOTO SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SHE RACES THROUGH TIGHT SCHEDULE

PEARISBURG - Some graduates look back on their high school days regretting what they missed.

Not Giles senior Jennifer Jeffers. Regrets require missed opportunities, and she's grabbed every one that's come her way.

"I keep thinking I'm coming back," Jeffers, 18, said of her time at Giles High School, where she participated in school musicals, cross-country athletics and a host of other activities.

The idea of being a graduate hasn't sunk in yet for Jeffers or any of Giles High School's 126 seniors who celebrate graduation today.

Jeffers opted for a different path than most students, a path made more difficult by her mother's diagnosis of cancer when Jeffers was in the second grade.

After her mother's death, Jeffers filled the roles of family caretaker, sister and daughter.

Jeffers threw herself into school, following her passions for singing and community service.

Her relationship with her family, combined with her belief in God, have helped her succeed, she said.

Waking early each morning, Jeffers makes sure things run smoothly in a hectic household. Her two brothers, Jeff, 20, and Adam, 14, chip in with their father, Jasper, but Jennifer is in charge of the laundry and other chores.

"Take a picture of my family and you will probably get a blur," she said.

Fighting with her brothers used to be commonplace, but things have changed.

Adam Jeffers now participates in plays with his sister and helps with her community work.

"I dabble in everything," Jennifer Jeffers says, grinning shyly.

Organizations will feel the pinch without her. She has been a member of Students Organized for Developing Attitudes, a peer counseling group; Students Against Drunk Driving; the Fellowship of Christian Athletes; and many other organizations.

She joined the track and cross-country teams at Giles, standing out on both squads.

Rusty Kelley, the girls track coach and athletic director at Giles, is amazed by her work ethic. "You just tell her what to do and she just goes at it," he said. "You'll never hear her complain."

Jeffers says she has to be organized to juggle so many activities. She declares budgeting her time to be the key. "When I'm folding clothes, I'm thinking about washing the dishes."

Karen Yolton, Jeffers' English teacher and the senior adviser at Giles High School, noted the Ripplemead native has many admirers. "I've been here a long time and she's probably one of the most well-loved students ever. She even talks to the eighth-graders."

Jeffers, in turn, says she'll miss the faculty, especially "their advice and support."

She felt a kinship with Helen Harkrider, her elementary school teacher, whose love of children mirrored her own. Their friendship, which outgrew the confines of the classroom, thrives today. Jeffers plans to study elementary education at Radford University in the fall, allowing her to stay close to home.

Asked what she'll remember from high school, Jeffers looks puzzled for a moment. "Anything I had to work really hard for I'll remember," she says.

For the Class of '95 Jennifer says "enjoy every moment. Never think you can't do something. You just have to budget your time."

by CNB