Amory High School senior headed to Yale

AMORY, MISS. (WCBI) – An Amory High School senior has made name for himself in sports, academics, photography and volunteer work.

The high achiever has become an inspiration and a motivator for teachers and fellow classmates.

As he walked the halls of Amory High School, Luke Flippo is greeted by fellow students.

Now, he will trade the halls of Amory for the ivy of Yale University.

“I stuck to my passions, told stories of people around me as well as I could, that’s how I still got accepted into Yale,” said Flippo.

His journey to Yale started nonchalantly.

Before his sophomore year, Luke was a self described introvert, content to go to school, do his homework and keep to himself.

All that changed when he was asked to take some photographs for the school.

“The yearbook asked me to cover basketball, my mom is a scrapbooker, she had really good cameras. I took photos, said ‘okay, maybe they won’t see these, they look kind of good.’ I released them, the whole team loved them,” said Flippo.  Before long I had the football coach asking me to travel with them, the basketball coach asking me to travel with them and was on soccer, archery, slow pitch softball.”

Luke’s photographic skills have helped him make many friends, and come out of his shell. He’s competed in photographic technology, on-demand video contests and even public speaking. Luke is a champion tennis player and has volunteered at nursing homes.

But his passion is photography and being able to tell a story through images.

“People see my photos, and say, oh, you’re a really good sports photographer, but I like to think sports is just a platform for everything you see in life. You go into a sports game and in an hour-and-a-half, you see success, failure and resilience. Those are topics every human faces.”

Luke attended a boarding school for a brief time but felt it wasn’t for him. He said he learned from that experience, and although he is leaving Amory High School, his influence will remain.

A new digital media course has been dubbed the “Luke Flippo Class.”

“This year we had 15, next year we have 35 signed up wanting to take it, it’s really growing, and kids, and our society as well, we are becoming more digitally oriented. Luke has helped bring everything together with all of that,” said Principal Leigh Stanford.

Luke plans to work hard at Yale, where he will major in American studies or global affairs. His long term goal is to be an international journalist in war zones, telling stories through his photos.

By the way, Luke Flippo is the first person in his family to go to college.  The website of his photography work has been viewed more than two and a half million times.