Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasmine Wright.
Jasmine, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
For as long as I can remember, me my sister and my parents have been living amongst the 12.3% of Americans living in poverty. My family and I have been in and out of shelters and other peoples home almost my whole life. When we did have a home it didn’t last long despite the efforts of my parents. Going through such a tough situation at a young age caused me to mature faster then others. At a young age, my circle of friends got smaller and smaller as I started to develop an advanced mindset set on one thing; breaking the generational cycle. You might be wondering “where was your family this whole time?”, well my family… most of my Mother’s side of the family didn’t really associate with us because they hated the fact that my mother married a black man with no money, and my father’s side of the family, well, I don’t know about them because my father kept us away from them, he said they were no good. Because of this, I kept to myself while I went through this because I often felt embarrassed or shameful of my situation when it was really making me a better person. This situation also caused me to want way more for myself, so I started to plan my life early. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do but I knew I wanted to work I’m law enforcement.
The first step toward my dream was choosing the right school, high school that is HISD’s magnet program offers many schools specializing in different pathways such as art, medical, law, etc. When I saw high school for law enforcement and criminal justice, I knew I had to go there. I applied for the school and my academic record got me right in! My whole school life, I had been a scholar, taking classes ahead of my grade level and being A B student. My freshman year was my first step to a long journey from dream to reality but the reality at the moment was that my home situation was getting worse by the day, we ended up in a hotel living day by day, this caused me to act out in school. I was arguing and trying to fight and I was on my last straw with my principal. I remember her reaction like it was yesterday “this is your last straw before you’re kicked out of this school, you need to join a club that will keep you out of trouble.” Next thing I know, she was walking me to Ms. Franklin’s office. The advisor of Business Professionals of America. Business Professionals of America is a career and technical student organization. BPA aims to develop leadership, academic, and technological skills in the workplace among students and leaders within the community. At first, I didn’t take it seriously, the first year, she kind of drag me along but my sophomore year that changed, I changed. By this time, Ms. Franklin had broken through my shell and make me open up to her this was relieving and it was what I needed, she put her trust in me as a treasurer and head of design committee of our chapter and she was my main cheerleader when all of the teachers thought I was a bad kid.
My sophomore year, I competed in two Business professionals of America competitions; video production team in which I made it to the state level traveling to Dallas, Tx in Digital media Production, which I made it to the national level traveling to California! This experience showed me that there is more to the world than struggle and hard times. I am now entering my junior year in high school still participating in BPA. My parents are working on their financial situation now and I am working and saving so that I can help out and start saving for college. God gives us obstacles but he also gives us tools to make it through! I just had to see them.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It wasn’t easy, being in a difficult situation brings out the ugly in most people, there was a lot of arguing in our family, a lot of breakdowns, and drama. Everyone had different ways of coping with the situation but none of us liked to talk about it, we would just bottle it up and explode. This was toxic and unhelpful.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I could start over with the knowledge I have today, I would have opened up. Bottling emotions is definitely the wrong way to go about things, it can cause you to act out and be angry and negative. I would also be more positive because of a negative mindset and a negative situation don’t make a positive situation.
Contact Info:
- Email: jasmineswright4@gmail.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/theywaantjaz
Getting in touch: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
