By McKenzie Gregory ‘25
Payton Peace talks with confidence as he explains his childhood. He answers questions with his head tall and his body leaned in. Even though Payton has a small family he tried to take in the moments, and enjoy the little things.
“I think what makes having siblings special is the bond that you have and always having that person there,” said Payton. “It’s just something different that you know makes something special to have. And it’s always nice to have a sibling or have somebody that close.”
Growing up almost every kid had holidays with family. Payton’s holidays were filled with family, games and lots of laughter. Which was special for him because his home was filled with two people but when the holidays came they were filled with plenty of family.
Payton loves spending time with family. “I would say, I admire a trip that I took to Disney with my whole family. I went to Florida, to Disney with my whole family, and we all had a lot of fun and had a great time, and was glad everybody could just be there,” Payton exclaimed.
Peace had a childhood that might be different than the average person because he never stayed in the same house, school or even state.
“I think my childhood was different from others because I stayed in the same house until I was around sixth, seventh grade, and then I started to move,” said Peace. “[We] moved around a lot. I moved to Florida and then Georgia, and then back to Pennsylvania.”
When Peace went to Conestoga Valley, school was his favorite part. He got to make many long-term friends and join sports. Payton was not an academic, school person but he did enjoy his after-school activities. Sports were a big part of his childhood.
Payton stated, “My favorite part was probably all the sports I played. I made a lot of friends, and a lot of close, close friendships and had a lot of fun.”
Other than having school and sports, he was a very reckless and crazy kid. He rode anything with wheels, jumped around in the dirt, and loved the outdoors.
“I broke my collarbone when I was young. I was rolling around my house, and I was going to front flip and hit a wall and broke it, and then my arm. I was on a dirt bike, then I hit a big rock and landed on the rock with my arm. Landed on top of my arm,” Payton explained.
Even though Payton had a small family with not very much room to be crazy, he still cherished every moment of spending time with family and enjoying his youth. As Peace finishes his conversation he stays leaned in with confidence, and finishes his childhood at 18.