BACKGROUND: JUST A BOY FROM THE 352...
Hi! My name is Kirk Tapley and I am so glad that you have decided to check out my page! I grew up in Gainesville, Florida, directly in the shadows of the greatest collegiate institution in America, THE University of Florida. I went to Littlewood Elementary School (Go Lions!), Howard Bishop Middle School (Go Hawks!), and Buchholz High School (Go Bobcats!). While I LOVE my city, where I grew up was probably not as influential as who I grew up around. You see, I will go toe-to-toe with anyone to debate that I have the greatest family on Earth. I was raised by two parents that implemented one major, unspoken rule in our household: Always be the hardest worker in the room. Now, it's kind of hard to do that when you spend 85% of your free time with your parents and they are the two hardest working people you've ever met, but their point was heard loud and clear, nonetheless. For them, EFFORT was always more important than GRADES. However, they were never shy to remind me that I had the intellectual capabilities to make Straight A's if I worked as hard as possible. Being raised in this type of household, where these expectations were met by their cousins of basic manners, responsibility, and self-respect, all cloaked in an unyielding sense of love, is a big reason for why I am the person I am today.
On top of this, I have a younger brother that was my companion throughout life. He has the voice of an angel, wit and a sense of humor faster than The Flash, and hair that I swear is unofficially sponsored by 27 different shampoo companies. He also is in a band called Driveaway. If you want to listen to some of their music, which I think is pretty good, you can click the following link: Driveaway on Spotify. You can also follow them on Instagram and Twitter.
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During the Summer of 2010, between my Junior and Senior years of high school, I had the opportunity to go on a life changing, cross-country trip called Teens' Camping Tour of the West. On the trip, I learned who I was as a person and began to mentally develop the image of who I wanted to be in the future. The experiences I had on the trip, along with the foundation that was set because of them, have acted as a springboard to every great thing I have accomplished/done since that summer. In fact, I believe in the trip so much, that I went back out West as a Staff member in the Summers of 2015 and 2018. For more information about the trip, or to get any questions you may have answered, you can either contact me or visit their website at https://tctw.com/. You can also visit their Instagram or Twitter, as well.
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Upon graduating from BHS, I was accepted into the University of Florida, where I graduated with a B.A. in History and a Minor in Educational Studies from UF in the Spring of 2015. I then went on and received my Masters for Secondary Social Studies Education.
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One of the things I love to do in my free time is dance. In fact, I have been a member of the Danscompany of Gainesville for the past 10 years. One of the things I love about being a member of DCoG is the ability to perform, as well as, all of the community involvement we do. As someone who loves Gainesville, I really like how one of the core missions of DCoG is to give back to the community that supports us.
Finally, I am a huge fan of WWE, or World Wrestling Entertainment. I can't really even explain why I like it so much; it just grabbed my attention when I was 9 years old and has never let go.
