STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: JESSICA SMITH

From Port St. Lucie, Florida, Jessica Smith is a Special Education doctoral student with a focus on Visual Disabilities Education and was recently awarded the Anne Spencer Daves Fellowship for students in education programs.

What other degrees or credentials do you already have?

I have a bachelor’s degree in Visual Disabilities Education and a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I am a certified teacher in Florida for visual disabilities K-12 as well as orientation and mobility. I am also an education member at large for the Florida Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (FAER) and a treasurer for the FSU chapter of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC).

Why did you choose FSU for your studies?

I attended an FSU satellite campus in St. Petersburg, Florida, to complete my B.S./M.S. degree because it was the closest university with a visual disabilities education program and because I heard such positive things about the program. While researching how to become a teacher for students with visual impairments, I also met so many people from FSU who were so kind and helpful. When I decided to pursue a Ph.D., FSU was the first school to come to mind based on the positive relationships I was able to create in my professional life. I also love the fact that FSU excels in both teacher preparation as well as research, which piqued my interest. I also wanted to be part of what shaped me as a professional. While completing my B.S./M.S. degree and while considering pursuing a Ph.D., I felt so much support from my professors.

What types of challenges or obstacles have you overcome on your educational journey?

I believe everyone goes through their own challenges or obstacles while working toward something they want to achieve. My educational journey has felt like a never-ending trail of hoops to jump through, but the obstacles have made me who I am today. I originally started my educational journey at the University of Florida where I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to continue learning. I fell into some financial hardships and had to leave the university. When I found out about the Visual Disabilities Education program at FSU, I did everything I could to get accepted. I was working full-time and commuting more than two hours one way to class multiple times a week. Shoving exhaustion aside, I poured myself into my new job and focused on doing my best on class assignments. It seemed so easy to look past the struggles of balancing work, school, and commuting because I truly could not contain my curiosity and newfound love of learning everything related to teaching students with visual impairments. Of course, COVID-19 threw a wrench into my educational journey by changing the way I experienced some courses. When deciding to pursue my Ph.D., I also had to move away from a little community I built for myself and am currently working on building that community again with the great people I get to meet daily here in Tallahassee. Throughout almost all of these challenges, I felt like my professors here at FSU were there to support my education and were a huge motivation for me to keep going as well as to come back after my B.S./M.S. adventure to further my education and give back to the field of visual disabilities.

What inspired or motivated you to pursue the field of education and work with students with visual impairments?

I have found that many people who work with students who are visually impaired find this field accidentally. After having to leave the University of Florida, I decided I wanted to be a middle school English teacher. I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my life, but I knew that I was not done learning. I thought that it would be beneficial for me to get my foot in the door, so to speak, at a school to gain experience. So, I decided to try to get a job as a paraprofessional. However, none of the schools I applied to wanted me because I was so inexperienced. Luckily, there was one school who was interested in hiring me because I was inexperienced. They liked the fact that they could train me to do things in the way they needed them done. The only “catch” was that I would be working with some students who were blind. At the time, I thought this was a cool experience that would shape me into a great teacher someday, so I jumped at the chance. It only took me about two weeks at this new job to decide that visual impairment education was incredibly cool, and I wanted to learn more about it. I was learning braille, adapting materials for the students, and learning so many things from the students I worked with as well as from the teachers of the visually impaired I worked with. Those teachers told me about the Visual Disabilities Education program here at FSU, so I found out more, and the rest is history! It was truly the best accident I could ever encounter.

What has been your favorite part of your time at FSU?

My favorite part of my time here at FSU so far is really the people I have gotten to know. While working on my B.S./M.S. degree, I lived with a classmate who became a long-time friend. My professors along the way have been there to support me in any way they know how, including sharing job opportunities or professional development opportunities, and now, as I pursue my Ph.D. I am meeting new people almost weekly who offer support and advice even when I think I don’t need it. The activities available for students are also such a fun part of continuing my education. I am often found somewhere in the stands of the beautiful fields on campus, losing my voice to cheer on the football, women’s soccer, softball, and baseball teams.

What do you hope to do after you graduate?

There are so many things I want to do! There is such a dire need for teachers of students with visual impairments and orientation & mobility specialists, so recruitment to the field has been something I have been working toward. I am currently a member of the Florida Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired, where I work with a fabulous group of people who are as passionate about recruitment into the field as I am. I am also a graduate teaching assistant, so I get to participate in teacher preparation by teaching some of the classes I took as a B.S./M.S. student, and it is really the highlight of my week. There are also so many research opportunities in this field that I am so excited to be a part of. I am currently in my very first semester of my Ph.D. and am still working on narrowing my field of interest when it comes to research. After I graduate, I am planning on continuing to contribute to this great field as much as possible by participating in teacher preparation and conducting my own research to share with anyone who will listen.

Anything else you’d like to share about your journey or what has kept you motivated throughout your educational experience?

My biggest motivator has really been my peers and professors along the way, so if I could share advice, it would be to talk to as many people as possible, volunteer as often as possible, and ask questions when you have them. You never know where your volunteer activities and dedication to what you believe in will take you. ∎