Alex Bishop, a senior at A.J. Dimond High School, has attended all four years of high school here, and he and his fellow classmates have begun their final quarter at Dimond.

“Alex is that kind of person that you don’t expect to initially become friends with, but once you do become friends with him, he’s a dork, and he cracks a lot of jokes,” said Aislinn Akin, friend of Bishop. “He’s a great person and fun to be with.”

Bishop spent his freshman, sophomore and junior years in Jazz Band playing the trombone and soprano trombone.

He would have liked to be in Jazz Band in his senior year, but became too busy with rugby and school to participate in the class.

Bishop has also been in Chess Club since his sophomore year and really enjoys it.

Bishop also enjoys playing rugby in his spare time during the summer.

His dream is to become a professional rugby player after high school and college.

Bishop said, “my dream [after high school] is to go to college down South and play rugby for their rugby team and get recruited after college.”

Bishop says one of the most memorable moments in his life is when he started playing rugby.

Rugby is a sport a lot like American football. Two teams play each other on a field with end zones.

Each sport uses a cylindrical ball, although the rugby ball is slightly bigger.

In rugby, a team may only pass the ball backwards while moving forward toward the end zone where the team with the ball must touch the ball down on the ground, this is called a try which is worth five points.

After a team scores a try, the team must kick the ball through the goalposts for a conversion. This is worth two points.

A team can also score a goal kick which is worth three points. A goal kick is essentially a conversion except a team may do this at any time in the game.

“Right when I started playing [rugby], I fell in love with it,” Bishop said, “It’s one of those things that I want to do for the rest of my life if I can.”

If rugby doesn’t work out for him, Bishop still has a career that he would enjoy doing.

He calls this his “attainable goal” in which he strives to become a firefighter or paramedic.

“I’ve always wanted to help people after school if rugby doesn’t work out for me,” said Bishop.

“Bishop is a hardworking and dedicated person,” said Alan Koch, friend of Alex Bishop. “But he still has a naturally funny personality that just make you want to laugh. It makes you happy to be around him.”

Bishop is enrolled in the Fire and Rescue class at King Career College (KCC) and the fire fighting program in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Exploring program.

Both of these courses teach students the fundamentals of firefighting and being a paramedic.

KCC and the BSA get students involved in these fields and teach them the safety and training required for each career.

Another memorable moment in his life is when he went to Las Vegas this year in 2018 and last year in 2017 for a Rugby tournament called USA Sevens Rugby.

This tournament is an invitational tournament that begins every year on March 1st and ends on March 3.

“It’s just such a fun thing to go do,” said Bishop. “I really enjoy doing it, and I don’t have to miss a lot of school to be a part of the tournament.”