Jonathan Dacres '17 Honored at Academy Prep Breakfast for Scholars

On Thursday, October 25, before 250 attendees of the Academy Prep Breakfast for Scholars, Jonathan Dacres ‘17 was honored with Academy Prep’s Ben Fisher Alumni Mentoring Award. Named for Ben Fisher, the late co-founder and Executive Director of the Academy Prep Foundation, the award is given to one exemplary Academy Prep graduate each year.

Currently a sophomore studying Psychology at the University of Tampa (UT), Jonathan is an active member of the Success Scholars Program and a SPEAR (Spartan Peer Educating About Resources) mentor, where he helps new UT students develop enduring relationships and a sense of belonging on campus. Jonathan also finds time to come back to Academy Prep to mentor their current scholars.

While at Shorecrest, Jonathan was actively involved in theatre, playing the lead in "The Phantom of the Opera," the Wolf in "Into the Woods" and a memorable Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables,” as well as a member of the Shorecrest football team and a student in the Center for Medical Sciences applied science track.

In his acceptance speech, Jonathan shared what mentorship means to him, “mentorship is the passing down of knowledge from one to another.” He acknowledged his own mentor role models in his speech including his father Mr. Raymond Dacres, as well as his best friend and fellow Academy Prep and Shorecrest alumnus Mr. Jonathan Bonner ‘05. Jonathan (Dacres) takes from all of his mentors the passion for giving back and looks forward to sharing his knowledge and experiences with future generations. He is already developing his own youth-centered non-profit, which he expects to launch after graduating from UT.

Jonathan’s "Crestviews" yearbook quote from Cicero is fitting for his growth as a mentor, “The life given to us by nature is short, but the memory of a life well spent is eternal.”