Good News About Good Schools
May 21, 2006 With that support, ´You can do anything´By LINDA TRIMBLE
News-Journal Education WriterDAYTONA BEACH — The Friday afternoon regulars at Bell´s Barber Shop know Jarryn Smith as the teenager who shows up with books so he can do homework while he´s waiting for a trim. It´s the kind of behavior that´s sometimes caused other teens to tease him, but Jarryn doesn´t mind if people see him as different. His academic dedication has paid big dividends. He graduated from Spruce Creek High School´s high-powered International Baccalaureate program Saturday with a 4.57 grade point average. And he´ll soon start a six-year doctoral program at Florida A&M University to prepare for a career as a pharmacist. Jarryn is precisely the kind of student Volusia school officials would like to see more of as they try to close the gap between the academic performance of white and minority students. The 18-year-old had the advantage of growing up in a family of educators who impressed on him at an early age how important school would be to his future. But relatives and others who know him well say Jarryn´s success comes from within. "He´s really, really driven," said Christine Tuomainen, Jarryn´s karate teacher for the last nine years who trained him to earn a third-degree black belt. "I have yet to see him fail at anything he´s decided to do." Even so, Jarryn wasn´t sure he wanted to attend the IB program at Spruce Creek. "I had always dreamed of going to Mainland," he said. "People were talking about all the good times we´d have. Just to come (to Spruce Creek) when all my friends were going to Mainland didn´t set well with me." A retired teacher whose son had excelled at Spruce Creek finally persuaded Jarryn to give the IB program a try and -- although it meant he had to build a new circle of friends -- he´s never looked back. With Spruce Creek drawing students from all over Volusia County for its varied programs, Jarryn said the Port Orange school offered him a chance to get to know people from different backgrounds. "You get to see different people, different cultures, and come together and be friends," he said. "I have diverse friends; you don´t see me with just black people." Only 16 -- 10 girls and six boys -- of the 837 students in Spruce Creek´s IB program are black. The program also is offered at DeLand High, where 36 of 587 IB students are black. Although Jarryn initially ran into some criticism for "trying to be white" by choosing Spruce Creek over Mainland, which has a larger black enrollment and serves his Daytona Beach neighborhood, he learned to ignore the criticism. "You have to learn to block those things out of your mind and keep going," he said. Jarryn did a lot more than "keep going" in the IB program, which gave him the chance to meet other academically successful students and spurred him to work even harder. "I think it´s just a vibe," he said. "I feed off somebody who is really successful." Jarryn was the only black member of Spruce Creek´s swim team for the last four years, but his race was never an issue. "We haven´t paid any attention to that because we´re having so much fun," he said. His coaches and teammates elected Jarryn co-captain of the swim team his senior year, largely because "he makes everyone around him strive for success," said assistant swim coach Bethany Overcast. "He is an outstanding student, a good swimmer, a captain, a true leader and a goal-oriented young man." The lessons he learned at an early age about the importance of education kept him focused on his long-term goal of preparing for college and a successful career. He remembers his late great-grandmother, retired third-grade teacher Alma Presley, telling him as a young boy that she wanted him to go to college. "It was never if you were going to college, but where," recalled Valentine Ross, who is Presley´s daughter and Jarryn´s grandmother. He has lived with Ross, a Spruce Creek assistant principal, since he was a baby because his mother was finishing college and working. Jarryn´s mother, Tammarynd Smith-Flynt, now teaches at Atlantic High School. Not every student is lucky enough to have a family of educators backing him up, but, Spruce Creek Principal Tim Egnor said, a support system is so much a key to students´ success that the school tries to fill the vacuum when it´s missing. Successful students, generally, have at least three "caring adults" who help them get through high school, Egnor said. "Usually, they have a relationship with adults who are always there, they can always count on, who will always listen and sometimes push them." Spruce Creek teachers are encouraged to fill those roles, he said, and the school has freed one guidance counselor to be the "go to" person at school for students who need someone to listen and help them set goals. And, while Jarryn´s family credits his inner drive for his success, he knows the roots go deeper than that. "There are children at school who don´t have the unconditional love and family support (I have)," he said. "You can do anything you want if you have that support. If you don´t, you can´t go as far."
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