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HCHS senior builds on confidence through Orlando media experience
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By Jennifer Wimmer
Hancock County High School senior Kylie Bowlds traveled with the HCHS cheerleading team to Orlando, Florida when the squad competed in the 2026 National High School Cheerleading Championship, held Jan. 28 through Feb. 2.
Bowlds, 17, who has served as editor of the HCHS yearbook staff for two school years, gained behind-the-scenes experience with Varsity Yearbook. She connected with Varsity CEO Bill Seely over their shared experience with dyslexia, which strengthened confidence in her abilities.
She and fellow senior Rylann Kessans met with ESPN photographers and sat in on a meeting with Seely, who oversees Varsity Yearbook. The session helped them gain a clearer sense of how their creative skills could evolve into future careers in the communications field.
Bowlds attended the cheerleading championship with Kessans and her family. Working with yearbook advisor Kaitlyn Fischer and cheer coach Aimee Estes, she secured a press pass through Varsity that allowed her to attend the event as student media.
The experience gave her a fresh perspective on event coverage. She said the chance to go behind the scenes was the most memorable part of the trip and ignited her interest in possibly pursuing work related to broadcasting, photography or sports media. Conversations with ESPN photographers especially deepened that interest. Though she hasn’t set a specific career goal yet, she said the encounter left a lasting impression and opened her eyes to new possibilities.
“We talked about finding the perfect angle and getting shots of the crowd to capture their reactions,” Bowlds said. “That team we met with was like a little family and were cutting up with each other. They all had their own strengths. I thought it would be so fun to be part of a team like that one day.”
Outside of school, Bowlds pursues photography as a hobby, often taking senior portraits and sports photos for her friends — something she said she enjoys doing for fun rather than for the yearbook staff.
Meeting Seely was one of the most inspiring moments of her trip. He made an immediate impression with his friendly, down-to-earth personality. During their conversation, he offered perspective drawn from his own challenges with learning and communication. She said his advice motivated her to embrace her abilities even more.
“It was the coolest thing ever to find out we’re both dyslexic,” she said. “He told me it’s not a weakness, it’s a strength because creative people have big ideas and just need the right people around them. I asked what he meant and he said his strength is thinking big, while his friend focuses on the key details and turns those ideas into plans. I once had someone tell me to keep my disability quiet because it could hurt my career, so hearing him talk so openly about it meant a lot. It made me realize that if someone as successful as him can overcome that, then I can do big things too.”
When Seely described how his colleague helps turn his ideas into plans, Bowlds said she and Kessans immediately related. Their strengths and weaknesses complement each other, she said, and it reminded her that she’s already surrounded by the right people. The two worked together on the yearbook staff last year and although Kessans is focusing more on theater this year, Bowlds said she still stops by to check out their latest work.
Bowlds and Kessans interviewed several cheer teams to get their perspectives on the competition. She said Kessans, who enjoys meeting new people, especially liked that part and is considering a communications-related career. The pair spoke with several team members, asking about their experiences and where they were from.
She said that while conducting interviews it was fun to meet another student who serves as a yearbook editor as well, and the two bonded.
It’s notable that Bowlds is navigating dyslexia while serving as editor of the school yearbook, a role that demands strong reading, writing and organization skills and can be especially challenging for students with the learning difference. She continues to push through those obstacles and take on work that might feel daunting to others with similar struggles, demonstrating resilience and a willingnes to grow.
As a sophomore, she struggled in English after her pandemic-disrupted middle school years and often left class in tears because reading and assignments felt so difficult, while classmates teased her for not understanding material they found easy. Her teacher, Kirstin Wheatley, noticed the signs, spoke with her and suggested dyslexia might be a factor, prompting conversations with Bowlds’ mother and a full evaluation.
Her mother researched dyslexia and arranged testing. She teaches a reading intervention class that now supports many students, and the two sometimes work together to help classmates with reading difficulties.
“That’s when I felt like I shouldn’t look at it as something to be ashamed of, but as a tool to help others,” Bowlds said.
Peer judgement at school was harder to handle than the reading itself, she said, especially during her junior year, when bullying increased. She leaned on her support system, including Fischer, who she said helped pull her out of a low point and made high school feel more manageable.
“My friends were really supportive. I would just try not to let it stop me but to help me grow. My mom told me that it just means I’m really creative. She has helped me a lot, and having the support of so many good teachers has really helped me too,” she said.
As yearbook editor, she still finds heavy reading and editing difficult, so she collaborates closely with photography editor Brooklyn Brown, who helps refine details and turn her big-picture layouts into workable plans.
“Brooklyn and I bounce ideas back and forth,” she said. “I’m really lucky to have her. I’ll draw ideas on the whiteboard and say, ‘This is what I want, but I don’t know how to do it.’ She’ll say, ‘Well, let’s just focus on this.’ Then we have this beautiful thread. Now I don’t really treat it as something I need to be ashamed of. I kind of laugh it off.”
Bowlds has been a member of the HCHS marching band all four years of high school, playing percussion, including vibraphone, and said the program has strengthened her confidence as a leader. She feels fortunate the band qualified for state every year and described the group as a tight-knit band family that worked hard together.
She is also in her third year on the HCHS Tennis team and previously played soccer from age 5, though not for the high school, and said she misses being on a soccer team.
In band, she credited former director Logan Barrow with helping her manage anxiety and assistant director Macy Mitchell with investing extra time and energy in the percussion section. She said she relies heavily on the people around her in every activity she does.
Her tennis coach, Dan Hopkins, a pastor, also checks in on players’ well-being and encourages them to come to him with any problems. During her toughest years, she leaned on a network of teachers who understood and offered support.
“I was going through a lot of struggles in my sophomore and junior years. I think it had to do with dyslexia because I was trying to figure out where I fit in. I had the support of so many teachers. I felt so lucky. I had Ms. Wheatley, Ms. Fischer, Ms. Taylor, Ms. Kessans and Mr. Meserve,” she said.
Her hope is to make a difference after graduation, whatever path she chooses. She wants her story to show that having a disability does not define what someone can accomplish.
“I want to help people,” she said. “Just because you have a disability doesn’t mean that it limits what you can do. I got the opportunity to meet Bill Seely and connect with him on this. I never thought I would meet someone like that. I feel like if I really want something, I can do it. My mom has done so much for me. I’m truly lucky to have her. She knows when I’m struggling. She picks up on signs. She’s so easy to talk to and she has made this so much easier.”
She encourages other students with learning differences not to be afraid to speak up, try new things and ask questions, adding that taking chances has helped her feel more at ease at school and grateful for how far she has come.
Bowlds lives in Lewisport with her parents, Dwight and Heather Bowlds, and her younger sister, Avery, who is a sixth-grader at Hancock County Middle School. Heather works as a math and reading interventionist and gap coordinator at HCMS and Dwight is a supervisor at Commonwealth Rolled Products.
Bowlds was crowned 2026 HCHS homecoming queen during basketball homecoming festivities on Friday, Feb. 6.
Posted in Local News 2
