Throughout her 7 years at OCSA, Baily Palmer has excelled as a student and artist, helping many people along her journey through high school. As an orchestra major playing the bass, she has led the bassist section all through middle school, and has been lead bassist for the past 3 years of high school due to her focused and precise nature.

Baily Palmer has made it into AllState in her 8th, 10th and 11th year at OCSA. In this past year, she made it into All National Orchestra. She has been president of the National Honors Society (NHS) for the past two years, and was class president and lead organizer for the Senior Gala this year. She was also chosen for the Superintendents Senior Council.

People often describe Baily as hardworking, and someone who strives for excellence. “She really propels herself and others to reach the maximum product. She’s always been a highly intelligent and self-motivated student,” Mr. Frazo, Orchestra director and Baily’s teacher for the past five years, commented.

“Baily has done an excellent job as NHS president for two years. She has taken a lot of initiative and has coordinated many dozens of volunteer events,” Mr. Vedder, test coordinator and overseer of the National Honor Society, states. “As a result of Baily’s leadership, NHS has been able to help thousands of people in our community. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with her.” Baily has organized numerous food drives and volunteer events at local food banks.  These events have helped gather and distribute food to families in need.

“She speaks her mind, does it professionally, and makes things happen. She’s been the backbone of the orchestra program as far as anything we need for volunteer stuff. Her and her mom have done so much for this program,” Mr. Frazo states, going on to talk about the Carnegie trip. “She was, as far as student wise, probably the coordinator of the students. She really coordinated and made the Carnegie trip possible, and I credit her and her mom. No student got left behind.”

“So that’s Baily; she’ll give her time, she’ll give her effort, she’ll give her focus, and will give it to others so people can match it to,” Mr. Frazo concludes. Later on, he states that Baily is “one of the top musicians we’ve had here.”

Baily will be attending the University of Florida in the fall doing a dual major in Music Performance and Business Management. She hopes to continue doing work throughout the community and get involved in outreach programs that will aid her in her goal. While she does not know what she wants to pursue in the future, she does know she wants to establish her own firm/company while remaining active in the community.

Outside of Orchestra, Baily enjoys painting and baking simple things such as cupcakes. She comments that she doesn’t get much time to do these things however, as she is always busy with school work and things related to National Honor Society. Baily says she’s a pretty open book, but there is one thing most people aren’t aware of. “People may not know that I’m actually terrified of speaking in front of people, especially since I’m the President of the National Honors Society and the class.”

Baily states that her experience at OCSA was a little iffy at times. “My class was never really one that was as close as other classes, so it always felt like we were all disconnected from each other, especially the music majors and the non-music majors,” she explains. “But this year brought about a lot of change for our class and brought us all closer together, or at least some of us, so I’ve grown to really care for many of my fellow seniors.”

“OCSA itself can be a little strange at times, but it allowed me to grow as a person and shaped me into who I am today. So I will always be grateful for that,” she concludes.

When asked to give advice to students attending OCSA, Baily has this to say: “I would honestly just say to be you and don’t forget to be a kid as well as a good student. I forgot to be a kid for most of my time at OCSA and focused a little too much on my academics, which is something that I will always regret.”