Just a few minutes listening to this particular young lady speak makes one realize Jacey Sizemore is not your typical 23-year-old.
JACEY SIZEMORE
The Greene County native, the current Miss State of Franklin, will take part in the Ms. Tennessee event in June. But it’s her rather uncomfortable childhood which has helped shape her plans of helping others in similar situations moving forward. That childhood involved witnessing the death of her addicted father at age eight and her mother dealing with issues as well.
While the North Greene and ETSU graduate is working on completing her master’s in May in social work with a certificate in clinical addiction studies, Sizemore joined Greene County Anti-Drug Coalition Executive Director Lynn Broyles Thursday morning for a video Interview.
Lynn – “What would you tell a child right now that is dealing with something like this if you could go back and use your story now to help someone else?”
Jacey – “I would tell them that I’ve been there and that even though I do have this crown and this sash that I was a kid once just like you. I believe that nothing desirable was ever gonna come from my environment. I always felt like things were so much harder because there wasn’t time to do them or things like that. And to just look at the growth that has happened in my story and how I use my own story to help others. And so if we can continue to take our own issues, our problems, and use them to help other people, then what we went through was worth it in the end.”
LYNN BROYLES AND JACEY SIZEMORE
Jacey is using her platform to address one of the most urgent issues impacting our region-substance use and mental health. Her Community Service Initiative, “The Sizemore Legacy: Overcoming Addiction with Dance Movement Therapy,” focuses on prevention, education, and innovative approaches to recovery.
Radio Greeneville News was invited to sit in during the session, then joined in on a few more questions following the recording.
JACEY WILL SERVE AS AN AMBASSADOR FOR GCADC
While doing numerous interviews with judges in past competitions, she was also Miss Blue and Gold at ETSU earlier, Sizemore seemed very comfortable fielding questions from Broyles during the video interview, speaking with confidence and without tears, which she admitted she has had to work to overcome as well. However, when Broyles, at least surprising to Jayce and those of us in the room, told her GCADC wanted her to be their Ambassador, the tears began to flow.
LYNN BROYLES “WILL YOU BE OUR AMBASSADOR”
Lynn – “How do you feel about going in and telling that emotional story?”
Jacey – “You know it’s sometimes hard to share. Whenever I first started doing this and started doing interviews, I would cry in every pageant. I believe that I did. And then once I got into the master’s program, they started telling us, If you can’t talk about something and get through that, then you probably can’t help someone else with that same issue because you’re still struggling with it yourself. And so I think that going in and talking about it more and more and more and talking to more people, hearing more stories, has just given me even more of a “want” to share my story. Because at the end of the day, one in four children have at least one parent with a substance abuse, substance use disorder in the household. And you’ll ever hear that. I remember being a kid and knowing maybe two other people with a parent with a substance use disorder out of fifty. So if we can continue to share what we’re comfortable with sharing, I feel like we can cause other people to share theirs as well, and realize that it’s not a thought of isolation.”
WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT JACEY
Lynn – “So to end on a lighter note, outside of the advocacy, and getting your master’s degree, and volunteering, what’s something people might be surprised to learn about you?”
Jacey – “Well the people I went to high school with wouldn’t be surprised, but I actually was on the North Greene High School football team. When I was a senior, I remember thinking they needed more people, and I just wanted to show that even though I was a girl I could still do what they did. They actually put me on the offensive line. And I’ll never forget getting plowed down time after time by those boys. But it was so much fun. I had the time of my life out there with them and just being in those pads and seeing myself in that kind of environment. I was like, I can literally do anything I want to do.”
HER OWN ADDICTION – GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICHES
Admittedly, Sizemore has an addiction….to grilled cheese sandwiches, which her aunt who lived across the road from her home, was always making for her when she came to visit, which was often.
MISS TENNESSEE PAGEANT
The Miss Tennessee Competition Week in June 18-20 at Belmont University in Nashville. And while a grilled cheese sandwich loving and football playing contestant might not fit the normal criteria of a Miss Tennessee, it seems rather apparent Jacey is ready to tackle that competition full speed ahead and help others tackle challenges moving forward in her chosen profession as she has already been successfully doing in her young life.
GCADC HOPES TO GET A RECOVERY RESOURCE CENTER LOCALLY
Near the end of the meeting Thursday, Lynn Broyles announced plans are underway for getting a Recovery Resource Center locally. Broyles says the GCADC Board is in the process of trying to get funding for a recovery resource center in Greene County. She says the closest place to go now is in Johnson City and having one locally would help serve people on a daily basis to help connect them with recovery resources.
