Jordan “J” Crandell is a well known and well loved member of this year’s graduating class. Whether he is arguing over basketball stats with the guys in the senior room, or buying Versace underwear in New York, he never fails to bring smiles and laughter to our group of seniors. J began attending Rocky Mount Academy when he was in the 6th grade, and was immediately welcomed into our class family. He has since made himself an indispensable piece of our puzzle; our grade would not be the same without J (or Jordan Crandillious III, as some class members have come to call him).

J has been on both the Varsity State Championship football team, as well as the Varsity basketball team this year. In football as number 8, he played as a defensive back. He was surely a major asset to the team! In basketball, J was number 3; he was a star player as point guard. As Trey Smelcer, a teammate of J’s on both the football field and basketball court, says, “J is the kind of teammate you want on your team; you know he’s always going to have your back.” Consistently being a top scorer in games, he helped lead the Eagles to victory time and time again. Hopefully, he will be able to continue to score big in basketball next year, as he signed last week to play for the University of Mount Olive!

The senior class would be very different if J were not a part of it, and so would Rocky Mount Academy as a whole. He brings constant laughter and joy to all those around him with his blatantly straightforward and ironic remarks. His classes and sports teams would be lacking in his personality and talent. We will miss him next year as he attends college in Mount Olive next year to further his education while playing his favorite sport (or, as Bailey Beddingfield claims, maybe he’s just going for the pickles!), but he will always have a home here with both this year’s senior class and Rocky Mount Academy.

If you would like to learn more about J, please refer to the following questions:

1) I know you are involved with a lot of athletics at RMA. Do you have a favorite memory from a particular sport/game? I actually have 2 favorite memories: winning the State Championship in football this year and being conference champs in basketball last year.

2) If you had to pick 3 words to describe who you are, what would they be and why? Funny, because I’m always joking around; cool, because that’s what everybody says when they first see me; athletic, because I’m good at sports I put effort into; and confident, because I feel like I know a lot about life for my age and I have been through a lot.

3) Who would be the someone who has made the biggest impact on your life to date. Why? My dad taught me how to be a man, something my mother couldn’t teach me. Anything my dad didn’t teach me my brothers did.

4) If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?  Puerto Rico because I want to see new areas.

5) Other than athletics, what do you like to do in your spare time? Hanging out with my friends.

6) What is something you are most excited about for your time over the next four years at the University of Mount Olive? Playing basketball.

7) What is currently your favorite song? I have three: Gravity by NBA Youngboy; Everything by G Herbo ft. Lil Uzi Vert; Beef by Tee Grizzley ft. Meek Mill

8) If you could time travel, would you go to the future or to the past? Why? (And if you go to the past, would you change anything?)  I will probably go to the past, but I wouldn’t change anything because I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done.

9) What is one thing you could not live without? Koolaid

10) Where do you see yourself in ten years? I don’t know, I don’t think that far ahead in life.