A few days before commencement, Jasmine Johnson ’13 received an email from Crystal Jones ’85: “You’re joining a great bunch of women who are waiting for more of your brilliance!” Scripps College alumnae won’t have to wait long – Johnson already serves as part of the LASPA Center for Leadership’s Founding Director search committee.
“My journey at Scripps led me to recognize my voice and to hold it with strength and conviction,” says Johnson. “Being at an intellectually curious and academically rigorous environment like this taught me the importance of asking questions and having the agency to seek the answers on my own.”
While an undergraduate, the public policy analysis major served on the Board of Trustees for three years and as president of Wanawake Weusi, worked as an outreach coordinator for the Office of Admission, and was Faculty/Staff Relations Chair for Scripps Associated Students. Her off-campus study experience, which Johnson calls “the most difficult and transformative four months of my life,” took her to Durban, South Africa as part of the Social and Political Transformation program.
“As a first-generation student of color from a working class background, Scripps was at times overwhelming—more than I thought I was prepared for,” she says. “Yet it was the same community that initially attracted me and helped sustain and nurture me over the last four years.”
Johnson is now pursuing a Masters of Art in Urban Education/Policy while working as a sixth grade instructor in Richmond, California. Her advice for the incoming class of Scripps women? “Be unapologetic,” she says. “Give yourself permission. And trust yourself and the lessons you learn along the way – you’re here for a reason.”