BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Teaching beyond the confines of classroom walls.
That’s what D’on Jeffers envisioned for herself career-wise when she balanced work and being a mom to go to the University of Florida and earn a bachelor’s degree in Education. She began a new career in the classroom at Bradford Middle School, but she always saw herself filling a role that was more than just teaching core subjects to students.
Therefore, Jeffers’ new position as the academic coach with the Santa Fe College Upward Bound program is perfect.
Upward Bound, which is offered free to BHS students, is a part of the U.S. Department of Education’s TRIO program. TRIO is designed to provide assistance to students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Upward Bound accepts students that are potentially first-generation college students and whose families meet income requirements set by the U.S. Department of Education.
“It just feels like I’m doing what I’m called to do,” Jeffers said.
The first step toward that call of helping young people occurred while Jeffers was working as the receptionist at Bradford Middle School. At first, that was simply a job that better accommodated her schedule of being a single parent. However, because of her interactions with students, it wound up steering her toward a new course in life.
“When I thought about going back to school, someone asked me, ‘What is it that you think you’d like to do for the rest of your life?’ Education just happened to be so convenient at the time because I was so influenced by the atmosphere (at BMS),” Jeffers said.
Jeffers received encouragement from BMS administrators, who believed she had what it took to work, go to school and still be a mom. A group of BMS staff purchased a laptop for Jeffers, who had no computer of her own and would make trips to the Bradford County Public Library and even one of the libraries in Gainesville so she could use one.
After graduating from UF, Jeffers began teaching at BMS. From the start, she envisioned a future in which she went on to do more than just work in a classroom. She liked the idea of possibly being some kind of counselor and possibly starting her own nonprofit that would benefit children in some way.
Jeffers would eventually take a job with Santa Fe College as part of its Achieve program, which provides mentoring and coaching to high school students in an effort to better prepare them to go to college and be successful. After high school graduation, Achieve students enrolled at Santa Fe receive a stipend to cover the cost of textbooks, with eligible students also qualifying for a full-tuition scholarship that picks up where financial aid leaves off.
“I’m super thankful for the opportunity (at BMS), but I also realized that in that setting, I wasn’t fully able to be myself,” Jeffers said. “Transitioning over to Santa Fe, I was like, ‘I’m able to help them. I’m able to guide them and advise them in ways to pursue higher education after they leave high school.’”
Jeffers said the opportunity to become the academic coach with Upward Bound was one that fell in her lap and one that required him to devote a bit of time thinking about.
“I loved my role. I loved my job,” Jeffers said of Santa Fe Achieve. “I loved my supervisors and my colleagues. I loved where I was, but I think the determining factor in moving from Santa Fe Achieve to this program was closely related to the overall outcome of what I wanted to pursue in life.”
As Upward Bound academic coach, Jeffers meets with Bradford High School students twice a week at BHS. She monitors their academic progress and talks to teachers.
Students also participate in once-a-month Saturday sessions that cover such topics as financial literacy that will help them in life.
“My overall goal is to get them to a place where they’re very, very familiar with higher education,” Jeffers said, adding, “We want to educate. We want to make sure they’re very, very equipped to take the next step.”
Jeffers said that part of her job is also to help students from low-income households simply get through the day. She knows what some of them are going through, having grown up as one of four children in a single-parent home.
“I know first-hand what it does to families when you are financially stressed out and your basic needs aren’t met,” Jeffers said, adding, “My duty is to take care of them emotionally and physically, to make sure they’re fed and to make sure they’re in a good space to receive whatever it is Upward Bound is trying to give to them.
“It’s very, very important for us to make sure we are meeting their needs in order for them to bring the best versions of themselves to the program so we can implement all these great resources for them.”
Jeffers said she and those who work in Upward Bound are the biggest cheerleaders in the lives of some students — students who feel pressure to stay at home and not go to college. Jeffers said some students feel the need to take care of their families, but don’t understand that the best way to do that is to better themselves first.
“The truth of the matter is in order for you to reach a level of success to help your family and change your family’s dynamics and the cycle, you have to pour into yourself,” Jeffers said. “Go to school, get some kind of degree or certification, and then go back and help.”
Through Upward Bound, Jeffers hopes she can help instill in students the confidence to go to college.
“If you believe you can do it, you can do it,” she said. “It’s a growth mindset.”
Jeffers is proof that belief can overcome obstacles. She is willing to share her own experiences with students, but perhaps not for the reason you might think. Yes, she has demonstrated that you can juggle a lot of different things in life and still succeed, but the journey, of course, wasn’t easy, and she didn’t always make the right decisions.
“I made several mistakes, but I had people to encourage me and to pick me up and to help me along the way,” Jeffers said. “I share my story so they can be encouraged, so they can see that I am a human, that I am not somebody who just had it together (all the time).”
Jeffers’ educational journey isn’t complete. She’s currently working toward a master’s degree in Student Personnel in Higher Education at UF. Jeffers said the degree will allow her to better serve students after they’ve graduated from high school.
For Jeffers, it’s all about helping others, and that doesn’t feel like a job.
“I don’t even feel like I’m working,” she said of her job with Upward Bound. “I genuinely don’t. I come here, and I thoroughly enjoy what I do for this community and this set of students.”
