Diamond Jones ’25

Describe your major completely incorrectly. 
The education major is only for people who want to be teachers. 

What would you do with your major if you knew you could not fail? 
I'd start teaching, ironically. I've always wanted to be a teacher, so the teaching track is for me. But if I knew that I couldn't fail, I'd just jump right into teaching ASAP. 

What grades do you want to teach? 
I want to teach ninth-grade English. First of all, who hates an English teacher? If you hate an English teacher, I don't know what to tell you. But I love ninth grade just because it's such a malleable space for students. They're going through such this transition, and it's just the right time for educators to instill hope into their students and to kind of course correct any type of negative thinking that has been instilled in them from their formative years. I really want to go into that transition space to help course-correct and help instill confidence in students. 

What's one piece of advice that you'd like to share about your time at Smith? 
To ask questions and to advocate for yourself. There's a host of people on this campus who can be your biggest supporters, your biggest advocators, and if you go to them and you make yourself known like, "Hey, I need X, Y, and Z, can you help me?" Then they're going to be like, "Yes, I got your back." So, advocate for yourself every time and ask questions because there's no such thing as a dumb question. 

What's one awesome piece of advice you’ve gotten? 
One awesome piece of advice that I've gotten is to be myself. It's very easy to try to fit in or mold yourself and change yourself in different ways to fit in what you think is the vibe at Smith. But if you're just yourself, then you don't have to worry about anything, and you can just be authentically you and it's one less thing you have to worry about. 

What's one way that you've been authentically yourself? 
I've been authentically myself by repping my home city, Baltimore, Maryland. I am proud to say that I'm one of the only students from inner-city Baltimore, Maryland here at Smith, and it's been like that since I got here in 2020. And so everybody knows that I rep Baltimore City when I come through every single time. 

Is there a message you would share to someone from Baltimore City who was thinking about attending Smith? 
That you can do it. I would say to anyone in Baltimore who is trying to wonder whether or not Smith is for them, you can do it. I literally only applied to Smith because I told the teacher that I couldn't get in and look at me now. And so literally just making sure everyone in my city knows that it's possible to be here and that you belong here just as much as anybody else and not to let anybody tell you differently. 

Describe one moment with friends or classmates that particularly sticks with you. 
My first year at Smith was fall 2020. It was the COVID year. And so we all got virtually assigned to different houses and neighborhoods, and I got assigned to Jordan House, and I have never seen a bunch of students really try to make a community happen over Zoom. So, we threw a Halloween virtual party, and we got dressed up and took pictures and it was really something that stuck with me for the rest of my time here. For a party, I want to get dressed, have fun, listen to some music, and then go to bed. So, to be able to do all of that and then go straight to sleep after. Chef's kiss, definitely. 

What was most interesting or unique about your house, and what will you miss about it? 
In Comstock House, there's this fire hat that I didn't know about until it got passed down to me. So all of the Black seniors in the house sign the hat, and then it gets passed down to the next senior that they can wear it for Convocation. I didn't know it existed until it was given to me this year, and it was just something that I really, really loved. And I got to sign it, and it makes me feel like I'm a part of a legacy. So being able to keep that tradition alive, I will miss, but I'm happy to know that I was a part of it.  Read more about the Comstock fire helmet.

What's your all-time favorite Smith memory? 
I was a HONS in the fall of 2021. On the first night that first years come, all of the houses go out and have a celebration. And all of the HONS get to try to climb the pole that's in the middle of the quad. I don't climb no poles. So, I got to just dance around the pole and be a goofball and have fun, and it was really good. That was probably a staple in my memory. What was the most challenging moment from your time at Smith so far? My most challenging moment was fall of 2021, that same semester that I was a HONS, I ended up having to go on a medical leave. And so it was very much a disruption in my plan. I came into Smith being like, "All right, I'm in 2020. I'm out 2024." Cut and dry. And then, fall of 2021 happened, and I had to go home. And it was such a challenge because I had to come to peace with the fact that the journey that I was prepared for was not the journey that I was taking. So, coming back to Smith was such an adjustment. But I made it. I did it. 

If you could tell an alum something about your personal experience at Smith, what would it be? 
I think that at Smith, Smith is such a wonderful place for people to come in and figure out what they want to do with themselves and find their own voices. And sometimes, for students who are BIPOC, students from marginalized communities, it can be a little bit more of a challenge. So I've had to make my voice be louder than a lot of other people's sometimes. And I would tell alums that what they've gone through, especially BIPOC alums, has started to pay off. Students like me are still fighting that good fight and doing what we have to do to make sure Smith continues to change to become an inclusive space for BIPOC students. 

Who was your favorite professor, and what did you most about their style of teaching? 
The education department at Smith is top-notch. I might be biased because I'm an education major, but I have never seen so many professors who are just dedicated to their students, not only as students but as human beings. I feel like a collaborator and a co-facilitator rather than a student in these classrooms. Their style of teaching is very humane. It's student-centered. It's discussion-based. And it's very differentiated to everybody's different needs. So, a shout-out to the education department. You all do it the best every single time. 

What's the best advice about your major that you were ever given? 
The best advice that I could have ever been given about my major is to consider the students that I'm teaching. It's very, very easy, especially if you're on the teacher track, to think that this entire course of study is dependent on you and your knowledge and how much you have to bring to the table. And in some areas, it is. But when you're in a classroom, it's a two-way street. Teachers have a responsibility to give information, making sure students understand it, but students also have a responsibility to engage in the lesson, to ask questions. And so, when you're viewing that relationship as a two-way street and not just the "I'm sitting here pouring knowledge into students," it can make the experience a lot more collaborative. So, making sure you're viewing your classroom as a collaborative space and not just an authoritative role makes teaching a lot more enjoyable, and a lot more easier to bear, and a lot more exciting to do. 

What do you think has been the most Smithie thing that you've ever done in your life so far? 
The most Smithie thing that I have ever done in my life is try to bear the world on my shoulders. I think Smithies, we come into this space wanting to conquer the world, and it is a beautiful energy and drive to witness. It's so beautiful to witness. But we're also human, and we're not robots. And it's so easy, especially for me, to take on the weight of 1,001 people and 1,001 tasks and think that I can handle it all and try to stick it through until the end, and in the end, I come out burnt out. But it's a beautiful thing to hold. It's a beautiful skill to hold because you know that you're going to be invested in things. You know that you're going to invest yourself into whatever you're putting into. 

If you could tell alum something about your personal experience with Smith, what would it be? 
During my personal time, I continue to advocate for myself and encourage others actually to advocate for themselves, too. Smith can be such a wonderful place for students to come into their own selves, find their voices, and act upon that. But for people of marginalized identities in the BIPOC and low-income communities, sometimes we have to make our voices be louder in order to get the same recognition. Smith is working to try its hardest to change that narrative, but progress still has to be made. So, while I've been here I have been fighting that good fight and that things have been changing, and I'm sure that we've been definitely making progress. But that the marathon continues and that we're going to keep going and I'm going to keep advocating until I walk across that stage.