Eight years ago, Renee and Brent Jackson lost their only son in a tragic bicycling accident, not long before he was set to begin his senior year at Midway High School. Now, the couple, along with good friend Ginger Naylor, and other friends and family, are doing all they can to ensure other Midway graduates get the chance to realize their college dreams, even if her son could not.
Jackson Barefoot was just 17 when he and his best friend, Dylan Hickok, decided to go on a bicycle ride, an activity they often did together along the back roads of their neighborhood. They had stopped to rest by a sunflower field when tragedy struck, and Jackson was hit by a vehicle.
“He was a quiet young man; he was not athletic,” mom Renee remembers. “But he found his voice through music. I feel like when he joined the band… he just opened up. It was a part of him that we had not seen. I don’t know if that makes sense. He just… I don’t know, he just bloomed in music.”
It was a somewhat ironic choice of words for the bereaved mother, to say that he “bloomed in music,” knowing he was killed near a sunflower field. The sunflower, however, became symbolic of Jackson in the following years.
“Jackson’s family and friends feel that the sunflower symbolizes Jackson,” explains a flyer promoting next Saturday’s Tour De Sunflower, a bicycle ride and walk that will raise money for the Jackson Barefoot Memorial Scholarship fund. “Jackson was a soft-spoken, often shy young man who loved music. He had an infectious smile and often would offer words of encouragement to his fellow band members. Jackson was always the ‘sunflower’ when someone was in need.”
The second ever Tour De Sunflower will be held next Saturday, April 18, at Midway Middle School. Registration opens at 7:30 a.m., with a 5K walk starting at 8:30 a.m., and the 17-mile bicycle ride beginning at 8:45 a.m. Those wishing to participate can register online or the day of. Cost is $20 for students and $25 for adults. The online registration form can be found on the Jackson Barefoot Memorial Scholarship Facebook page. Contact Ginger Naylor at [email protected] with any questions.
Naylor and the Jacksons started the scholarship fund and held the first Tour De Sunflower bike ride in 2019, one year after Jackson’s death. With the money raised through that one event, the $2,000 per student scholarship has been awarded each year since, totaling $14,000. Although the COVID pandemic derailed plans for the bike ride to become an annual event, the scholarship committee decided to hold the event once more, as funds were beginning to run low.
“We could have funded it for two more years, but we knew things were kind of getting close,” Renee says. “Ginger is the one that had the vision for this. This was not my idea. This was Ginger Naylor’s vision, and she brought it to me and asked me what I thought. So that’s the reason that the Tour De Sunflower was started. Her with the help of a lot of friends, and it’s that way this time as well. We have a lot of friends and family support. And from that, we have been fortunate enough — or should I say, blessed enough — to help send eight students to college.”
While pursuing a degree in music is not a requirement for the scholarship, the senior should attend Midway High School and be a member of the band.
“Jackson was a section leader in the band, and that’s why we decided to start the scholarship,” Naylor says. “Because Jackson just had a heart for music.”
Renee says her son had expressed the desire to go into music beyond high school. “He was proud of the band, proud to be a part of the band,” she shares. “And because of that, I feel like that’s just a part of the way that we can honor who he was.”
Jackson started playing the alto saxophone in the school band in sixth grade, and also played the piano. At the time of his passing, he was also beginning to teach himself how to play guitar. His mom recalls that the day he was killed, the family had just returned from a mountain vacation.
“When we left that morning to come home, he expressed that his desire was to go to App State and major in music,” she says. “The band really had an impact on him. A positive impact, and that’s why I feel like the arts are so important to these kids that can’t find their place on a field. It’s just, you know, it’s just nice that they have an outlet. And they truly, the Midway band, is a family. They do a lot of things together. They stick together.”
The first recipient of the Jackson Barefoot Memorial Scholarship was, fittingly enough, Dylan Hickok, who went on to graduate from Appalachian State University with a degree in music studies. In 2020, there were two recipients — Logan Jackson and Luke Hazlebeck, who both attended the University of North Carolina Pembroke. Subsequent recipients were: Colton Barber, East Carolina University, in 2021; Marley Ray, East Carolina University, in 2022; Cooper Bryan, North Carolina State University, in 2023; Jaylan Barbour, East Carolina University, in 2024; and Montzerrath Acosta, UNC Pembroke, 2025. This year’s recipient will be decided on April 21 and announced on May 15.
Of those awarded the scholarship so far, Renee says two have gone on to become band teachers, and one is going in to music therapy.
Jackson’s best friend will be at the event, which is sure to be bittersweet for all who knew the young man. However, Renee said the teens loved going on bike rides as much as they loved music. “They just enjoyed it. They went on bike rides all the time, and it was something they loved, and, you know, he was doing what he loved.”