Rachel Silver

Some people may only know Drew Conner as the smart junior class president, but that is about to change.

Drew is daring enough to jump out of an airplane. Drew went skydiving.

He received the trip for his 17th birthday from his parents, and his mom accompanied him on the jump.

 

When his dad was in his 20s, he jumped 447 times. And just like his dad, Drew loved the experience. “It sounds stupid, but I wasn’t scared at all.”

Mr. Conner, Drew’s dad, went out on a whim when he decided to go skydiving. That “whim” came in the form of a billboard. It simply said “skydive here” with an arrow pointing to the location of his first jump. Mr. Conner and his friend went to the place upon seeing the billboard, went through the class, and now Mr. Conner is an experienced jumper.

Jumping out of an airplane is not an adventure that everybody gets the chance to experience. Some people may be able to imagine the beautiful view of the world, the burst of wind, the rush of adrenaline, the pounding heart—though maybe not the last part for Drew, because, as he stated, he felt no fear.

“It was really cool to see the patchwork of farms from that view,” Drew said as he described how the world looked from beneath his parachute.

Ever wanted to know how it feels to free-fall? “It felt like I was lying on jello—because of all that air resistance,” said Drew. “I kept thinking, ‘I’m falling to the ground at 120 mph… maybe I should open my parachute.’”

While the entire trip was exciting for him, Drew said that his favorite part was “when the parachute was open… when I was ‘under the canopy.’” Drew considered it an over-all really awesome trip. “It was something I’ve always wanted to do.”

Drew liked it just as much as his father. “As soon as my feet touched the ground, I wanted to go right back up,” he said.

It may not be 447 jumps, but one jump was a very exhilarating experience—and who knows, maybe someday he will reach, or beat his dad’s record.