Scholarship Winner Earns the Chance to Dream

As a shy young girl, Kaylea Smith was homeschooled so she could care for her sisters while her mother went to work. “I never dreamed I would be attending Rollins College,” said the Holt School English major and winner of the 2012 Florida Executive Women’s scholarship. “We didn’t have many options financially, so we did what we had to do to stay afloat.”

It wasn’t until Smith’s grandmother—who returned to school in her 50s to become a nurse practitioner and professor of nursing—offered to pay for Smith’s first semester of community college that Smith began dreaming. “It then occurred to me that I might be able to do something with my life,” she said. But after community college, Smith didn’t know where to go until she took a tour of Rollins. “I fell in love immediately with the beautiful campus,” she said, “and the professors have been unbelievably supportive and encouraging—and understanding, considering that for the last year and a half I worked two jobs to help support me and my family, while pursuing my artistic goals and attending school full time.”

Smith calls all her professors “wonderful,” but acknowledges those who gave her extra special academic support: “Jill Jones encouraged me to think about teaching as a profession, and professor Robert Morris encouraged me to seek publication for my writing,” she said. “One thing I love about Rollins is the small class sizes, enabling professors to work with students on an individual level, as Jan Mathews did by allowing me to use art historical references in my English essays and to do an analysis on the Beowulf graphic novel.”

Describing herself as a “driven person” and a “hard worker,” Smith has worked two jobs while attending the Holt School full time. “I have learned that perseverance and patience will help you achieve anything you truly desire.” What Smith desires after Rollins confirms that she hasn’t lost her drive or her capacity for hard work. “I’d like to be a writer and editor, pursue a degree in art therapy, and become an English or art professor so that I may be a source of encouragement to students like myself—who were once shy and lost, but are now finding their place in the world.”

By Renée Anduze