Senior Spotlight: Alexis Parker

Lady Brave Alexis Parker is a senior at Riverside Indian School in Anadarko. She plays Center and wears number 23 on the basketball team. Parker said after high school, she wants to work in child development or the justice system for civil cases.

Parker is from the Honey Eaters and has a direct lineage to Quanah Parker. She said her Comanche heritage was interrupted due to the death of her Great Uncle Frank and Great Grandfather Leonard Parker, aka “Rabbit Ears.” She said she has longed to learn the traditions and culture of her Comanche side firsthand; however, she is proud to be Comanche.

Parker said she isn’t sure what college she would like to attend but does want to go out of state. She has basketball offers from Neosho County Community College in Kansas, Jacksonville College in Texas, Dakota College in North Dakota and Bethel College in Kansas.

“I like all of them because I went to go visit Neosho, and I do like it there, and I do like the Texas one a lot. I like the coach. He's like real supportive even when he's not even my coach,” Parker said.

She said she feels good when the team plays.

“It's like another game, but I feel good when we go out on the court because I know we're going to do a good job,” Parker said.

She got into basketball because her whole family does it. Parker said her mom and dad play basketball, and her mom is an All-American. She is also involved with other sports and activities outside of basketball.

“I do track, I do softball, I'm on the class officers for my senior class,” Parker said. “I'm in the honors role.”

Her mentors include her mom because she pushes Parker through everything and has been there since the start.

“It's very special because not a lot of people have it, so it's just like someone there to push you when you don't want to be pushed, or you need that pushing, and she's just right there for you,” Parker said.

Being a senior, she said, is kind of sad because Parker has been at Riverside since her freshman year.

“I like it. I like being older and helping the little ones. My two sisters, she's a junior and one’s freshman, so I like helping them,” she said.

Parker said she likes having family on the team.

“I like having people that are close to me because it's like it feels better when you're when you're with somebody that you know that are like this,” she said.

In her spare time, Parker makes bracelets and gained interest through family.

“My aunt, she does bracelets,” she said. “She'll sell like go to like, I guess, bracelet or beading conventions or something like that, and then she'll just go out and sell them to everybody who wants these bracelets.”

Parker said her favorite bracelet is clear with charms of things she likes on it.

“Like it has like a basketball and it has my initial and just some animals I like and just stuff like that. It goes all the way around,” she said.

Parker said she’s excited to graduate and receive her diploma.