By Brandi Palmer

Stetson University College of Law student Jasmine Smith calmly explains that she remembers the day when bullets riddled her home as a child. She can also remember what changed her path in life. Smith grew up in Florida as the oldest of seven children in a loving family, lacking the economic security of many of her peers at Stetson Law. As a teenager, she became passionate about the positive impact of education when she was chosen for the College Reach-Out Program, which recruits economically and educationally disadvantaged students to motivate and prepare them to attend college.

Through the program, Smith says that she was exposed to a bigger world beyond her neighborhood. In visiting different college campuses and talking with students every year through her senior year in high school, she envisioned a different future.

“You can be motivated to do something different once you know there is something different out there,” Smith says.

Smith was selected for the international baccalaureate program in high school and became the first person in her family to go to college when she enrolled at Florida State University.

“Going to college changed my life,” says Smith.

At FSU, she met a homeless student who worked her way through college to become a social worker. It was at FSU that Smith began mentoring elementary, middle and high school students. She volunteered with the PeaceJam Youth Conference. Smith says that she found her focus in college, and knew it was her goal to be an advocate for education and a resource for students in the community.

“Mentoring allows students to have a conversation,” Smith explains. “I do a lot of listening.”

Today, the Stetson Law student is paying it forward through a mentoring program at the local Gulfport Montessori Elementary School, where she has become a popular role model for some of the students. Smith regularly visits with four of the elementary school students, and chats with them about everything from their grades in school to the latest dance they invented.

Carolyn Bystrycki, family and community liaison at Gulfport Elementary, explains that being a mentor is not as complicated as some might imagine. Something as simple as being available to share a few minutes with the children during lunch, recess, or a field trip can fill a void.

On a sunny Florida winter day in January, Smith coaxes the students into a brisk game of tag outside on the Gulfport Elementary playground. Bystrycki keeps an eye on the kids while gathering stray chocolate wrappers blowing across the playground. The four girls, Faith, Ki’Amora, La’nyjah and Madison, show off their cartwheels and explode into giggles as they race after Smith.

Bystrycki asks, “Isn’t that the best sound in the world?”

Smith’s enthusiasm for mentoring is inescapable. She is focused on each child, engaging them in conversations about their recent experiences, their plans for next week, and the week after that.

Starting in the spring, Smith talks about participating in a new grant-funded project spearheaded by Stetson Law professor Ann Piccard that pairs law student mentors with children in Florida’s foster care system. Through Professor Piccard’s new School to School Pipeline program, Smith hopes to have an opportunity to talk with children and young adults about their goals, take them on college campus visits, and show them alternative paths.

As a future lawyer, Smith is focused on civil rights and rights restoration, education reform through legislation and allocation of resources. She aspires to start a college prep program to help get lower income students ready for college.

As the Gulfport Elementary children gather to say goodbye to Smith after her visit for the hour, they shower her with thank you notes and smiles.

“I really want to make positive change in the world, in many areas,” Smith says.

For more information on working with the Gulfport Montessori Elementary School as a volunteer, contact Carolyn Bystryckic at [email protected].

To learn more about the School to School Pipeline project for law students, contact Professor Ann Piccard at [email protected].