Twice adopted, student zeroes in on a career

Sommer Kilpatrick, a student at Tallahassee Community College, has been adopted twice.

Joan and Jeff Herig adopted the Tallahassee native the first time. The second and final time she was adopted was by Joan Kilpatrick in the summer of 1996.

“Despite me being adopted, my cousins, my mom and I are very close. It is so cool having cousins you can be close with,” she said. “We all grew up like sisters, and we joke around with each other a lot. I’m the youngest, so I always got teased, but at the end of the day they love me and always have my back.”

When Kilpatrick turned 12, she developed a love for music, and she was a background singer at Shady Grove No. 1 Primitive Baptist Church.

She used to listen to music with her Walkman and sing the lyrics out loud.

Her mother noticed her vocal skills. At the age of 8, her mother brought her to the choir stand where she sung, inspiring Kilpatrick’s appreciation for music.

“My daughter is a very good singer. I was amazed the first time I heard her sing. I knew right then I had to get her in the choir,” said Joan Kilpatrick, her mother.

Kilpatrick is a criminal justice major at TCC, and when she is not singing, she is watching “NCIS,” “Bones” and “Criminal Minds.” She watches these shows to gain insight about the criminal justice field. She said these shows give her a better understanding of classes she is currently enrolled in.

“My cousin has made the dean’s list and the president’s list. I consider her a bit of a wiz kid. I also nicknamed her Brennan, which is the main character in the show “Bones.” I probably made her day when I nicknamed her that. That is only name I call her that she approves of,” said Tracy Davis, Kilpatrick’s cousin.

After she graduates from TCC, she plans to attend Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. She wants to earn her bachelor’s in criminal justice.  She would be the first in her family to graduate with a degree in criminal Justice.

After she graduates from FAMU, Kilpatrick plans to work with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office in the homicide unit.