“A bad attitude is like a flat tire. If you don’t change it, you won’t go anywhere.”
Written By: Tyisha Blade
Every year, Shaw High School promotes a new graduating class celebrating accomplishments that propel students to achieve goals beyond their high school coursework. On May 25, 2023, 112 students received their diplomas during commencement at Shaw Stadium. Faculty, staff, friends, family and distinguished guests all gathered to witness their graduates advance.
Jordan Smiley is the Valedictorian for the 2023 graduating class. Smiley shared with The East Clevelander Magazine that she grew up in foster care starting in 2011 and that she moved around Ohio. Smiley relocated to East Cleveland to live with her aunt in 2016 after leaving Hudson. Smiley attended Superior Elementary School during her 5th grade year of school, and later transferred to Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD).
In 2019, Smiley’s aunt adopted her on Valentine’s Day. Later that year, she returned to the East Cleveland City School District (ECCSD). She mentioned that foster care helped shape her into the person that she is now. “I feel that I’m more adaptable than I would’ve been if [I hadn’t been] in foster care,” she said. “I have also had the exposure and experiences to see life from other perspectives.”
During her studies at Shaw, Smiley participated in several extracurriculars while being a member of the National Honors Society. Smiley began attending Shaw as a freshman where she achieved a 4.0 GPA after her first semester. At the time, she recalls Freshman Academy, a program intended to help eighth graders transition to high school…and being student of the month.
The scholar briefly transferred to Glenville High School due to family matters and returned to Shaw during her junior year. As a senior at Shaw, Smiley began College Credit Plus (CCP) coursework at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). She completed honors and Advanced Placement (AP) classes to better her chances at being accepted to a collegiate program of her choice. She said that when she studied for exams, she deleted apps from her phone to keep from being distracted. She disciplined herself and created a work mode on her phone to avoid receiving notifications that may disturb her studies. She also participated as student coordinator for fashions shows, fundraisers, picnics and other student-led events.
Smiley shared with The East Clevelander Magazine some of her hardships while attending high school. “One of my biggest triumphs was math,” she said. She enrolled in Tri-C math classes to supplement her coursework at Shaw. She said, while preparing for the American College Testing (ACT) exams and her college math placement test, she met with tutors at Tri-C while balancing her studies at Shaw. Her most rewarding experience was becoming Valedictorian for the 2023 graduating class.
She recalled beginning her senior year as salutatorian and later decided to make a transition. “When I realized how close I was to [becoming] Valedictorian, I was like ‘I might as well give it a shot,’” she said.
“I worked really, really hard to raise my GPA.” Her goals included graduating with an Academic Honors Diploma which, she said, required an extra amount of work. High school students gain state recognition for exceeding Ohio’s graduation requirements to receive the Academic Honors Diploma.
According to education.ohio.gov, students must complete units, or credits, in specific subjects. They can use AP, International Baccalaureate, College Credit Plus and Credit Flexibility coursework to meet the unit requirements.
“My friends and I decided randomly, one night while on the phone, that we wanted [to achieve the honor’s diploma], so we were like ‘let’s just do it,’” she said. “We sat down with our guidance counselor and set up the year surrounding that goal.” Smiley admitted to feeling overwhelmed, at times, with the extra workload. In those moments, she said she’d turn off her phone, shut off her computer and rest. “I prioritized certain things so that I could keep my mental health stable and keep my grades,” she added. She ended her 2023 school year with a 4.1 GPA.
Smiley became a Louis Stokes Scholar and completed an eight-week internship for a law firm from June 2023 to July 2023. She plans on attending Ohio State University beginning in August 2023 majoring in pre-public health. She received a full-ride scholarship to the University to pursue coursework under the pre-dental track. Smiley ultimately wants to become an oral maxillofacial surgeon (the surgical specialty concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the mouth, jaws, face and neck).
She chose Public Health as a major after interning with University Circle’s Future Connections Program where she worked with the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition. The paid internship provided an eight-week college and career readiness experience for rising high school juniors and seniors. “The internship was really good because it helped me connect with dentists and other health care professionals,” she added.
Advice she’d like to give the next graduating class is to keep mental health a main priority during studies and coursework. “My mental health took a toll somewhere down the line and I started procrastinating, especially toward the end,” Smiley expressed.
“My original drive and motivation began to fall. College applications [took] up a lot of [my] time. FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is difficult to complete, especially in a situation like mine. It’s so easy not to include that [time] into your schedule. When your schedule becomes too full, you may end up missing deadlines or scholarship opportunities.”
Smiley said she liked her community, teachers and staff at Shaw. “They were my ‘rock’ and they supported me through all of my decisions even when I began slacking at the end,” she said. “They would push me.”
She also expressed her excitement in becoming a Shaw alumni and looks forward to participating in reunion events. “What you don’t find anywhere else are the Shaw reunions,” she proudly mentioned. “It’s something that everyone knows about and I’d really like to be a part of that. I hope that tradition never dies.”
Smiley wanted to end her interview with The East Clevelander Magazine by sharing a quote from Joyce Meyer with our readers: A bad attitude is like a flat tire. If you don’t change it, you won’t go anywhere. “It’s what I live by,” Smiley said. “I heard it once in sixth grade and, for some reason, that quote always stuck with me.”
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