Jackson Bullock is a sophomore involved in Counterpoints, Varsity Singers and Pantherquest. He has lived in Indianapolis for his whole life. From the start, he considers his mom a huge role model for a lot of moral support and advice.
“She just helps me,” Bullock said. “She’s perfect to vent to. She’s my moral conscience, and she can assure me of the best route of action, even though I might not always take it. It’s good to have her advice on many of these things.”
He spends much time with his grandmother and aunt on his maternal side. They spend a lot of time together.
One of his favorite childhood memories is visiting his grandmother’s house for Christmas. It is a tradition he looks forward to every year in his nontraditional family. It is always a spontaneous visit, with the primary focus just being to spend time together.
“My mom and I used to put the couches together, flip them in, and make this big bed,” Bullock said. “We would sleep on it for Christmas Eve. It was fun.”
He is an only child on his mom’s side, but Jackson has five siblings on his dad’s side.
“For most of my life, I was the youngest,” Bullock said. “Then I became a middle child, which was a dynamic shift. I used to be like the golden child. I got what I wanted when I asked for it. I am not that anymore, so definitely a shift.”
Jackson believes that their closeness has made him a lot like his mom. They think the same way and have similar emotional triggers, even if he doesn’t always make the same decisions she would.
Jackson prefers to lean towards carefree and risk-taking decisions.
“People have not liked me, and I’ve been picked. I used to play things safe and avoid getting in the way,” Bullock said. “But then I realized that you’re not gonna like me regardless of what I do, so there’s no reason for me not to do what I feel like doing now. So I’ve been practicing exercising free will, taking risks, and doing things as they come to me.”
Bullock believes in superstitions because they are fun to follow, not necessarily because he thinks anything bad will happen to him if things like stepping on a crack in the sidewalk or not holding his breath past a graveyard happen.
“I do those things because I think it’s cool to have superstitions,” Bullock said. “I think it makes me more interesting as a person. You won’t see me walking past a black cat; I’ll probably go to the other side of the street. I have done that before because I think that cats are scary.”
He is highly social and outgoing with friends, no matter what they are doing.
Bullock has also made some of his best friends through extracurricular activities, such as sophomore Kestrel Dunn. Dunn and Bullock met in eighth grade. They are both involved in choir, so they spend a lot of time together.
“I love that Jackson knows how to connect with everyone and makes people comfortable,” Dunn said. “He’s hilarious, which helps, but he also is a good listener and cares a lot about the people he loves.”
In performing, Bullock exhibits similar qualities.
“I think his dedication to what he cares about shows when performing,” Dunn said. “He’s also very comfortable expressing his feelings, which makes his performances more heartfelt.”
Bullock and Dunn have been best friends since eighth grade and have had many opportunities to grow together as people and through the choir.
“Kestrel is genuinely one of the few people I don’t get tired of being around,” Bullock said. ”She doesn’t burn me out, and I don’t think I burn her out. She’s like a sister to me. I love her and wouldn’t trade her in for the world.”
Previously, Jackson and Kestrel saw the movie together when it was rerun for the 25th anniversary.
“Not many people were at the exhibit, so we were being unserious and joking around the whole time,” Dunn said. “Bullock makes me feel less socially insecure or worried about what others think, which is very freeing and makes me feel like we could do whatever we want. It was a lot of fun.”
Confidence on and off the stage is something that Bullock had to gain over time.
Bullock has been singing all his life but did not start doing musicals until eighth grade because he had stage fright. Eventually, he overcame it by believing that it was just adrenaline and everything would be okay.
“Before then, I hadn’t found my niche,” Bullock said. “I am not athletic. I’m smart, but not like a 5.0 GPA, a quizzable type of smart. I hadn’t found my niche until I did performing arts. That’s something that I now like to take pride in.”
Auditions for the show choir take place in the spring of every year, and the list of people who make it is released on the first Friday of fall break.
Three major categories are used in auditions for show choir: student effort, vocal talent and dance talent. All choirs want people who are good choral citizens and work well with others.
Jared McElroy is a choir teacher working with the show choir students, including Jackson. He believes that Jackson exhibits outstanding choral citizenship and energy while interacting with other students in class.
“When he walked into varsity singers on the first day, I was like, ’this kid is probably a counterpoint next year.’” McElroy said. “He just kind of had that persona; he worked hard and was very talented, so it was great.”
Since my first year, Bullock’s voice has gotten stronger through taking voice lessons. He has also become more comfortable with the group itself.
“He’s coming into a choir of forty-five freshmen through seniors,” McElroy said. “It is easy to be a little bit timid around a big group of people like that. Seeing him get comfortable and let his personality shine throughout the year.”
Bullock recognizes show choir as a place where his peers have great passion for the same things as him, and that pushes him to be better.
“This is my first year in counterpoints and with upper-level students who I can look up to and be like, ‘wow, that’s like what I wanna do.’” Bullock said. “My examples are always seniors Bruce Lisman and Elijah Britt. As a senior, I want to have the confidence in my skills like they do because they have made such an impact.”
Bullock received the Best Performer Award at the competition at Lawrence Central this past season.
“I wanted this award going into the show choir season,” Bullock said. “I don’t like to attribute my talent towards accomplishments, but it can help when you doubt yourself. LC was one of our later competitions, so I had developed the mindset that I was not going to get it. Then they called my name, which was a full circle moment for me this year.”
Even with his accomplishments, Bullock has a lot of room for improvement in the next few years of high school. He wants to improve his performance and develop a better mindset toward show choir.
“Every time I feel like I did bad on something, I like to shut down,” Bullock said. “I don’t want to do that because I think there’s no need for it. I’m just really hard on myself. I want to grow in the mindset that if it is meant to be, it will be, and if not, I am fine either way. I’m doing what I love anyways.”
Those skills can be applicable not only to show choir but also to other extracurricular activities.
Bullock is also a student facilitator at PantherQuest. PantherQuest is the first-year orientation week to get new students used to the school, but for older students who have stepped up as leaders, the week offers the potential to make new friends and step out of one’s comfort zone.
“It is the closest you will ever make a friend in the quickest amount of time,” Bullock said. “The environment is truly so vulnerable. It is so raw; it is just good people having fun for fun. There’s no negativity because nobody’s making you do this, and you have to interview to be there, so if you get in, you’re typically a positive person”.
Bullock can open himself up to others and take the initiative to start conversations with strangers, which he would not have been able to do five years ago.
“Through a lot of elementary school, I was made fun of for being too sensitive,” Bullock said. ”I think I reversed it, and it was very closed off, and I just didn’t care. But I think I’ve gotten better about opening up. I’m glad I have it because I can feel comfortable talking to people like I can speak to someone I don’t know.”
Now, Bullock helps others feel comfortable leaving their comfort zone.
“I’ve learned how to be more social and embrace my true self around him,” sophomore Clara Soderquist said. “That skill is important to me because sometimes I struggle with self-confidence. Bullock will always boost my confidence and help me realize there is no reason to fear anything like that.”
Darrien Grays is a social studies teacher who also serves as a Panther Quest teacher advisor. He joined Panther Quest to meet new students and see upper-level students involved in something outside the classroom.
Grays observed and aided Bullock and his Rockstars group this past summer. He noticed Bullock’s outstanding ability to make people feel comfortable and welcomed.
“He was always trying to get the freshmen involved and trying to get them to come out of their shells,” Grays said. ”He was also knowledgeable. He knew his stuff. He worked well with the other PQ facilitators, making PantherQuest a welcoming environment for everyone.”
Bullock received the best advice about performing from Glee star Matthew Morrison. Bullock has struggled with becoming stressed about doing well in auditions.
At a meet-and-greet, Morrison told him that the best thing to do after auditions is to try to put it all in the past and not let it consume you.
“I’ve tried to apply that in my everyday life, just kind of letting things go and not holding grudges,” Bullock said. “I think it can become consuming, and then you start not living your life.”
The best advice Bullock would give someone who wants to be involved in performing arts is to realize that not everyone is born with natural talent. Through hard work, people can become good at singing and dancing, so don’t let fear distract the interest.
“I think people who have a passion for singing or performing or acting or entertaining in any way should find a way to keep doing that throughout their lives,” Bullock said. “I know many good people in high school, and just because that’s not the job they want, they stop altogether.”
Bullock plans to continue performing arts, taking a double major in Psychology and musical theater. Even if he does not become heavily involved with theater in the future, he could see himself joining community theater to keep that passion alive.
