Destiny Jackson
In its 40th year of honoring the nation’s most elite high school athletes, Gatorade recently announced Destiny Jackson of Whitney M. Young Magnet High School is the 2024-25 Gatorade Illinois Girls Basketball Player of the Year. Jackson is the second Gatorade Illinois Girls Basketball Player of the Year to be chosen from Whitney M. Young Magnet High School.
Gatorade Player of the Year is the top honor in high school sports, celebrating the nation’s best high school athletes for their success on the court, in the classroom and in the community. The award distinguishes Jackson as Illinois’ best high school girls basketball player, and she joins an impressive group of alumni that spans CEOs, coaches and star athletes such as Candace Parker (2002-03 & 2003-04, Naperville Central High School, Illinois), Paige Bueckers (2019-20, Hopkins High School, Minnesota) and Joyce Edwards (2023-24, Camden High School, South Carolina).
The 5-foot-6 senior guard averaged 21.1 points and 7.5 rebounds per game this past season, leading the Dolphins (25-9) to the Class 4A sectional championship game. Jackson also averaged 3.5 assists and 2.8 steals per game. A three-time First Team All-State selection and a McDonald’s All-American Game nominee, Jackson is ranked as the nation’s No. 25 recruit in the Class of 2025 by ESPN. She concluded her prep basketball career with 2,204 points. Jackson has volunteered locally at sports camps for at-risk youth and has donated her time to multiple community service initiatives through her church youth group. “Destiny was on another level in our game against them,” said Jeff Hamann, head coach of Maine South High School. “She finds ways to make her teammates better on drives, dishes and kickouts. Then she crashes the boards. She is tremendous.” Jackson has maintained a 3.08 GPA in the classroom. She has signed a written letter of athletic aid to play basketball at the University of Illinois this fall.
The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the District of Columbia and each of the 50 states across 12 different high school sports – football, girls volleyball, boys and girls cross country, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball, and boys and girls track & field – and awards one National Player of the Year in each sport. The selection process is administered by the Gatorade Player of the Year Selection Committee, which leverages experts including coaches, scouts, media and others as sources to help evaluate and determine the state winners in each sport.
Jackson joins recent Gatorade Illinois Girls Basketball Players of the Year Kloe Froebe (2023-24, Lincoln Community High School), Lenee Beaumont (2022-23, Benet Academy), Katy Eidle (2021-22, John Hersey High School) and Greta Kampschroeder (2020-21, Naperville North High School), among the state’s list of former award winners. As part of Gatorade’s commitment to breaking down barriers in sport, every Player of the Year also receives a grant to donate to a social impact partner. To date, the Gatorade Player of the Year program has provided more than $5.6 million in grants to winners across more than 2,000 organizations.
To learn more about the Gatorade Player of the Year program, check out past winners or to nominate student-athletes, visit playeroftheyear.gatorade.com or follow us on social media on Instagram at instagram.com/Gatorade, Facebook at facebook.com/GatoradePOY and X(Twitter) at x.com/Gatorade.