September 12, 2024 • 35 mins
In this inspiring episode of The Q-Chat, we sit down with Dr. Cynthia Smith, the trailblazing founder of Minds of the Future Academy, to discuss her groundbreaking work in education and entrepreneurship. Dr. Smith shares her journey from Jacksonville’s East Side to becoming a transformative leader in the educational space, creating opportunities for at-risk youth and young men of color. She discusses her passion for mentoring future generations, empowering students through arts and communication, and the importance of being a first-generation college graduate. Get inspired by her insights on balancing entrepreneurship, education, and family life. Tune in to learn how she’s shaping the future one student at a time. Record Date: [Aug 20] Release Date: [Sept 12] www.geauxqueen.com Connect with Geaux Queen: https://linktr.ee/geauxqueen Check out our Magazine: https://publuu.com/flip-book/109160/5... Instagram: www.instagram.com/iam_geauxqueen TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@geaux_queen?_... LinkedIn: / shronda-ann-a-0a7683203 Facebook: / thegeauxqueenbrand #selfimprovement #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #mentalhealthawareness #blackwomenpodcasters #selfimprovement #selflovepodcast
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Grab your print or digital copy of Go Queen magazine today.
Stay inspired by the incredible stories and features inside.
Visit our website to grab your copy now.
Hey Queen, welcome to another episode of the Q Chat.
Today, we welcome Doctor CynthiaSmith, the visionary founder of
Minds of the Feature Academy. From mentoring youth to leading
(00:22):
a groundbreaking K12 STEM school, Doctor Smith shares her
inspiring journey of transforming education and
empowering the next generation of leaders.
TuneIn to hear how she turned challenges into opportunities
and continues to make an impact in her community and beyond.
Working hard on a mission. So thank you guys for joining
(01:13):
another episode of the Q Chat today.
My special guest is Doctor Cynthia Smith and Cynthia is the
founder of the Minds of the Future Academy in Jacksonville,
FL. And as we know, this is the busy
time of year back to school. So we're going to talk about her
Academy and what inspired her tofound it.
And also some advice we can havefor our students that's starting
(01:33):
this upcoming amazing school year and everything they have to
look forward to for the future and also the parents who are
supporting them. How are you doing today?
I'm good. How are you?
Good. So nice to meet you.
So of course this is an amazing Academy that you found.
It is AK12 school with over 150 black students.
And this is one thing I thought was really interesting.
(01:56):
It provides an arts and communications component as
well. Students as young as five years
old, how to conduct a media interview, create a robot and
more. So this is amazing.
So I definitely want to start off with just learning what is
the background behind the school?
What inspired you to found the school?
So what inspired me was my education, the the way in which
(02:20):
I received my education and alsothe area of town in which I grew
up and I was educated in my school is was created
specifically within the three minutes of where I grew up at.
And I believe that it was so important for me to incorporate
(02:41):
STEM, the STEM concept, because those were things that I didn't
have. I felt as though if I would have
had the experience in the education that I'm awarding to
students now, I would have been in a much different path than
where I am in life. And some of the the some of the
hardships and struggles that I encompassed, I probably would
(03:01):
not have encompassed them because I would have had the
education that I'm giving. We are free private STEM school.
We are the first free private STEM school in North Florida.
We offer students the opportunity to think creatively,
engage academically with arts and careers that they
necessarily would not even they they could or could not use in
(03:24):
college. So we prepare students for
career readiness as well. I'm very proud of what we have
created is the K through 12 Academy and we definitely are in
a capital to campus campaign to raise funds for our forever home
because we have grown so much until we just really could
(03:45):
utilize the space. But we also make sure with our
growth that we're managing the numbers so that we can offer all
of the programs to students authentically as young as five
years old as you stated. Wow.
That is something else. And so generally what is the
process and applying for the school, how long does it take to
get accepted? Do you guys have, I can imagine,
(04:06):
I'm assuming you probably have like a lengthy waiting list.
So what's the process? And for parents who are
interested in getting their children in the school?
OK, so it's a three-step process.
The first thing I must meet all parents, families, students,
because I think that's very important because we're entering
when you come to minds of the future Academy, we we are as a
(04:28):
parent, they're entering into a parent partnership agreement.
And So what that means is that we have you have chosen us to be
your educational partners. And so I need to meet you, meet
your child. I mean, it's not really an
interview, it's very informal, but I believe that that's very
important because I need to knowwhy and how is education
important to the child as well as to the family because that's
(04:48):
going to be the the child's biggest supporter other than us
here at the school. The second thing is they have to
apply for the scholarship, whichis Florida Step Up for Students
Scholarship. It's a scholarship that is
awarded to any family that livesin Florida.
It used to be an income based scholarship, but now it is a
(05:10):
scholarship that anybody could actually utilize to send their
children to private school. Now it doesn't pay their entire
tuition. That's why you heard me mention
Capital to Campus Campaign. Because the scholarship only
pays 50%, the population of my parents cannot afford the other
50%. So that is where the partnership
(05:32):
piece also comes in because I require my parents to do 30
hours of volunteerism at my school because we can get way
more out of our program if we have more hands on deck.
And it as it pertains to fundraisers, as it pertains to
events the school may have, having their parents support
here, it goes a very long ways. And the third process is just
(05:57):
pretty much applying and attending orientation here in
our school. We want to make sure that you
understand what the requirementsare, what you are engaging in.
So during the school year, thereare no in, you know, any, you
know, complications about understanding the policy because
we want to make sure that that is clear orientation throughout
(06:18):
the school year. We do not enroll students.
We do have a deadline. So when you say there's a
waiting list, typically we cut it off before there is an even
opportunity to have a waiting list because we do get calls
throughout the school year, hey,you know, asking could they
transfer their child in? But that just keeps the
(06:39):
community and the culture authentically close.
Staff know exactly who they coming into every day, who
they're teaching, they know their students, they know their
families and vice versa. So, I mean, it's really a lot of
benefits into the three-step process that we have for
incoming families. Wow, that's something else.
(07:00):
And I do like how there's requirements for the parents
too, to be involved because as we know, it takes a village and
that's, I just like it because as you said, it's getting the
families involved. So I just think that's a very
great thing because I feel like when parents are involved and
then when they're required to beinvolved, it makes them, I feel
more comfortable and they're like, OK, this school really
(07:21):
does care about my family and mychild's future because you're
inviting that parent to be involved in the process.
So I just think that's a great thing too because it also builds
community. So I want to ask you definitely
about this curriculum, which I think it's cool.
Just just the things that I've heard about.
So can you give us some more details?
I know it's the STEM program, but just about this media
(07:42):
interviews, creating robots, things like that.
What are just some of the amazing programs that these
children are participating in atthis grade school?
And also, how does this work with how do you guys come up
with some of these great things with the curriculum?
Yeah. So for the curriculum piece for
the academic model, I actually created this academic model
because over the years of me being an educator, it seems as
(08:06):
though what has worked was something that could not always
that have been done for studentswhen I was working in the public
sector. And that is, I don't know if you
ever heard the term differentiated instruction or
response to intervention. That is where students are
tiered into groups based on skill or ability and they are
working closely with the teacherso to get what they need out of
(08:29):
the lesson. So I basically have incorporated
that model into my school. So academically, students
receive this instruction in small groups Monday through
Thursday. On Friday they, they are
attending electives. So the electives that they
attain are all aligned with the STEM, that program that we, that
(08:52):
we offer in the past, we've offered gardening for students.
So they understand healthy eating, they understand
agriculture. We've had farmers to come over
to really work with them and understand the process of, you
know, how to eat fruits and vegetables and different,
different types of fruits and vegetables because you will be
(09:14):
amazed that students are not familiar with anything other
than maybe a collard green or string beans.
So especially, you know, in the neighborhood in which I'm
educating, we've offered robotics in different forms and
concepts of robotics. So I bring in partners in the
community so they can say, OK, they can align as well and
understand, OK, if I want to be a engineer and I work on robots,
(09:39):
these are the types of careers. This is what these people do.
So we have a big STEM festival every year in August so that our
incoming students can understandwhat is STEM, What does that
mean? How does it look?
They can interact with it because that's so important.
But just we, we have dance, we have ballet, jazz, tab, hip hop,
(10:02):
We have a marching band, which honestly, we went viral last
year because it was our first year, the marching band.
I had students in there as youngas three years old.
We had majorettes and, and we still do.
So we're going on year two of the band.
It's like it's such a big deal to sing some videos.
So I really light up off that one because I was a marching
band student myself. And then we also have visual
(10:25):
arts as well, financial literacy.
That's a real big one that we have.
And now we're incorporating cosmetology, TV production,
videography. All of these things are taken on
Fridays. The students have a full
schedule. So it's like, you know, I work
Monday through Thursday, then I get to come to work on Friday at
my school. Just enjoy because you know,
(10:48):
it's a great thing to have students to want to be able to
learn all of these skills and trade.
My students that are in 11th and12th grade, they they are, they
have, they are required to participate in an external
internship program. So we have some of them
understanding how to work in a, believe it or not, paralegal.
(11:09):
So in different attorneys offices and new this year and
listen, this is great because I always try to make sure my
students understand like things like this happen every day.
But obviously I had to get parent consents, but we have
students working in funeral homes.
So they're understanding, you know, that whole process and
(11:29):
within itself, but it's, it's it's great because you know, we
teaching them life skills. We want them to be ready for
college and career readiness. And that is what STEM is about
because students graduating and have graduated equated and
worked in those different STEM careers and some of them haven't
even went to college and making six figures.
(11:49):
We met an 18 year old student ata robotics competition a few
years ago. He was actually building a
street light intersection robot prototype and the city of my
city, city of Jacksonville, was paying this 18 year old student
for his creative thinking. 6 figures, literally.
(12:10):
So it's just, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's a blessing to
be able to be, being able to award.
And like I say, I educate the community.
That's why I call myself the educated entrepreneur because I
have educated along the way. This is what we do.
This is what we stand for. And I, I want my, my, my
(12:32):
community to be encouraged and know that.
And I also want to be a motivation and inspiration to
other educators to do the do do some of the things that I'm
doing because I believe studentsbrings our sponges.
That's why I start is actually, you say it's 5, but I actually
started as young as three years old.
So I have a preschool as well. We have a preschool and last
(12:53):
year we had the one of the largest preschool classes
graduate. As as a matter of fact, we had
the largest preschool to graduate until this year.
We had no room in our kindergarten program for any new
students. Yeah.
That's really amazing. What have been one of the most,
(13:14):
I guess, special moments? What are one of your biggest
success stories since starting the school?
My biggest success story had to be this past year I had.
It was my first time that I actually was.
I don't want to say first time, but it was it.
I've always worked in secondary education, so this past year I
(13:34):
decided to take high school students.
Prior to that, I was only doing elementary students, so I
enrolled 6th through 12th grade students.
I had three 12th graders last year and they all, each one of
them came to me and they had various backgrounds, but it was
just one student. He had been kicked out of nine
(13:55):
schools and he came to me and hedid what he was supposed to be
doing. He is a success story, truly.
Because he graduated. He actually has a very good job,
learned a lot of skills, met a lot of people, and they helped
shape his entire direction. No troublesome things has
(14:16):
happened since he enrolled in myschool and thereafter, as a
matter of fact, believe it or not, I just talked to his mom
like literally right before thisinterview.
I check on him stories like it's, it's multiple stories like
that I've had at different levels.
But the biggest success story, just to, you know, kind of sum
it up is me seeing students reach their highest level of
(14:39):
success for students. Me being able to educate parents
and they say, you know what? I ain't never been involved in
the school, but I'm going to do this.
I like this working with their children, being able to see
that. And then last but not least,
this is a big deal for me is educating my staff, employing
and, and, and increasing economic empowerment here in my
(15:05):
community. That's, those are like 3 big
things for me because I haven't missed the payroll yet, you
know, And so that's, that's just, that's major for me to be
able to, you know, see that I'm a part of economic development,
economic wealth in my community.And, and I'm an African American
woman. Wow.
(15:27):
What are some of the things you have to just encourage the new
educators? Because education, of course, we
know, is an important field. You know, children need
educators. We need schools, parents need
schools that we can be confidentand feel secure when we send our
children off to these schools, you know, and education is such
(15:48):
a tricky thing because we still want teachers to be paid.
As you mentioned, economic stability is important.
Teachers are anyone in in the education field, Administrators
and teachers, everyone. We want them to be treated
fairly. We want them to be paid fairly.
We want them to just have what they need.
And we know the education systemis something that's always
(16:09):
growing. We always have to work on.
What are some of the things you can say to just encourage the
new educators that's coming in? I can imagine it may be a scary
thing for people that are new toteaching because things change
so much and sometimes people saynegative things.
But the field, as I said, it's important.
We need the educators, We need the people who are investing in
(16:32):
our children. So what are some of the things
you can say to just encourage people joining this field?
One of the things, well, first of all, when I actually went
into education, I think back to my career.
I had no books in the classroom.I came in after a sub.
It was one of the toughest environments and jobs I had ever
(16:52):
had. I wasn't an education major,
actually was a psychology major and I was probably like a lot of
people today let me do this classroom thing because I can't
do anything with my degree unless I go back to school and
get some more certifications or another degree, which I was in
the middle of doing. But let me just try this
education thing out. It's hard to it.
(17:14):
It was hard and I know it's still hard today because the
kids are much different from 10/20 something years ago when I
started teaching. My best advice is, is definitely
be passionate about it. Find your passion.
If this is not your passion, I recommend don't do it because
(17:34):
you're damaging our future. I look at it as if when I look
at these kids, whether they're in the 12th grade or two years
old, they are our future. We are preparing them to be
somebody someday. And so I think that even myself,
I have two children, I want themto be guided by someone that is
at least passionate. I hire staff members if they're
(17:56):
passionate because I mean, your heart is in the right place.
I can teach you how to receive the instruction, how to do a
great job, how to be the best classroom teacher, best English,
math, reading teacher ever. I can teach you those things,
but if your heart is in the right is your, if your heart is
is not, is not in the right place, I can't teach you that.
I can't teach those things because you're not going to be
(18:16):
open to receiving them. Secondly, professional
development, I believe that is nobody's responsibility, No
principal, no Superintendent responsibility to say, hey,
Doctor Smith, I believe you needto be more educated than this.
As an educator, you know what you lack in, you know, you need
to learn more about, take the initiative and be developed
(18:36):
professionally. And then thirdly, if you're
going to go into education, justto make sure you're working with
a demographic of people where you feel as though you can be
the best and where you can be most successful with impacting
lives because that is what education it's about.
It's about impacting lives, whether you're impacting the
student life, if you heard me say a parent life or even your
(18:57):
colleagues life, that is about impacting lives.
So those things alone will, you know, keep you grounded or they
will not. So I mean, it's just that
simple. I will, I take my staff every
year to this conference in Atlanta, GA.
It's the at the Ron Clark Academy this year.
(19:17):
I don't know how we're going to get there because I went from 8
staff members honey to 28. So with that being said, that's
a lot of $1000 per employee. But I'm going to make it happen
because Doctor Cynthia Smith always does.
But and the reason why I'm goingto make it happen is because I
believe that it's important thateducators have the opportunity
to be profession developed. I believe that you should be
(19:39):
under the right leadership and guidance because that is going
to tank you or that is going to support you, help you to move
you into the direction of, you know what this is this, this is
all right. I, I was a major, my major was
psychology, sociology, My master's was counseling.
I was going to be a counselor, atherapist, not a school
(20:02):
counselor, but a therapist, a licensed mental health
counselor. That is what I was going to
school for. But all while I was getting my
master's, I was teaching when I finished.
My master's, I was like, you know what, I like teaching, I
like education. So basically did I just go to
school for all these years for no reason?
Like cuz I'm not going to do this right?
(20:24):
And then I end up getting my doctorate in educational
leadership, organizational leadership because I was like,
this is great. Because of those three things.
I want to impact lives. I was passionate and I was
guided. I was got it properly.
So I think those things are things that matter.
Wow. That's something else.
(20:44):
I love it. I love it.
So I want to ask you as well, what have been any and I'm sure
what have been any challenges? And because if you have a very
complex job, I'll say that because you're doing something
so important, because you're putting the whole school
together, you know, like I said,there's different components.
As we know, as I said, it takes a village.
(21:06):
So you have to be, you're the administrator, you, you have the
teacher that you're pouring into, you have the students, the
family. This is a lot.
So what have been some of the challenges and putting this
together because it's growing and it's doing amazing things.
So how do you put this together like this?
How do you overcome just any challenges that you faced to
(21:26):
keep pushing to put this together?
Yeah, I think that I, I, I will say this is very important.
I have built a network of support.
So with my reputation for doing what I'm saying to you, I'm
doing so in the African Americancommunity.
(21:50):
That means a lot and and so to the African American community
means a lot. So you can imagine to
individuals that are not AfricanAmerican, like meeting someone
that says this is what I'm doingand has demonstrated this is
what I'm doing for children, forthe community.
(22:11):
My challenges hasn't been, they hasn't they have not been, I
guess as problematic as a challenge normally is.
And I'm not going to sit here and say that everything's been
easy because I have encompassed challenges.
But I think that when I've encompassed them, I have such a
(22:31):
strong network of people. I can call them for advice on
how to get out of something or hey, this is what I need and you
know, it's it. I'm not going to say it's
readily available like that, butI just have a very good network
of support of people that understands that I'm a solid,
(22:55):
reliable, a private school owner.
And I expect excellence in my students, my parents and my
staff to the point where they know.
So if they see me, like for example, this year, it could be
something as minor as this school year.
(23:16):
I decided to extend one week grace period for oh, I decided
to give a one week grace period for students parents to purchase
their uniforms. So students parents that have
been with me for the past four years was like, Doctor Smith,
(23:37):
can we see you for a second? Sure.
Oh, well, you've never given us a grace period.
I was like, I haven't, but this year we, you know, had a lot of
students and I decided to give agrace pair because we're in the
uniform company. But just that point that I'm the
point that I'm making is that they understand and they know
(23:59):
that I follow policy procedures.They understand that what I say
I'm going to do, they know that I have their children's best
interests at heart. And I feel though, that starts
at the top. And so that alone like really
reduces a lot of challenges thatI may have.
And then when I do have them, knowing that I can call on these
people, even a parent, the, you know, hey, this is what's going
(24:22):
on. And it's just no questions
asked. Like what do we need to do to
get it done? So, you know, that's that's that
in itself has been a very good thing.
Wow, that's something else. So I want to ask you one thing
on our platform, it's really important mental health and
Wellness. I want to ask you, what are some
of the things that the school does to incorporate mental
(24:43):
health and Wellness for the students?
And because it's important and you know, kids, they have to be
poured into emotionally as well.So what are some of the things
you guys do to cater to that? So I truly believe that I, I
truly believe in research and believe it or not, follow Doctor
Smith jacks.com, anybody that's watching, because I literally
(25:05):
just posted this last night. We do morning meetings every
morning and we do house meetings.
So basically, like I said, we are a STEM school.
Our students are broken down into houses.
So science, we have students that are in House of Science,
House of Technology, House of Engineering, House of Arts and
House of Mass. So basically steam.
(25:25):
And so every morning our students come in and we have we
set our day with morning meeting.
We all going to the gym and we prepare our day with music,
saying our positive affirmations, giving kudos and
any announcements. And then we also, you know, have
a word of the month. Like we have a character trait
(25:46):
of the month and we want students to have enthusiasm to
start their day. So we have this music plan and
you know, we repping who houses the best house and it sounds
like it's a lot, right? But it's 15 minutes every
morning or less every morning. Research says that listening to
music in the morning can reduce anxiety and improve a child's
(26:08):
mood, mental health, alertness, all of those things.
It does positive things for whatwe do in the morning.
Students love it. The first week of school, we
didn't have morning meeting. I'm just give you an example.
We did not have morning meeting.The students will stop at me, me
and we, hey, I noticed we haven't had morning meeting.
Is that coming back? Is that coming back?
(26:28):
Doctor Smith is that coming back, it gives an opportunity to
have a sense of belonging. You know what I mean?
I talked to too many people at school, but I got my house.
I have my teammates in my house.Once a month we do house
challenges. So it could be like a math focus
of the month. You know what team can solve
them all math problem the fastest, But it's just like it's
(26:49):
just an opportunity for studentsto be able to engage creatively,
think and work together, understand partnership within
school system and within our school system as well as and it
it improves their lack of well, it improves their confidence
(27:10):
because that is what we want them to do.
We want them to be confident citizens.
We want I have a lot of visitorsin the school.
So who house is the best house, you know, and then then they
love that. They love that motivation.
It gives them motivation every morning before they go to class.
So for us, morning meetings is like a mental health check in.
All the students come in, you atyour house leader, your house
(27:32):
administrator, everybody, you know, have the opportunity to
just really kind of talking and and understand that that
closeness because if you are my house and I know this well, you
know what, it doesn't seem like Cynthia is a little excited, you
know herself this morning. So I'm gonna I'm gonna do that
mental health check before you even get to your teacher.
And that's so important because the mental health of a of a
(27:54):
child is important. The mental health of a teacher
is important. You know, that's the way for me
to get in there as well as the owner and I get to see my
teachers kind of scaring them inthe morning.
I know that she not smiling. I know that she not over here
with the group. What's going on?
So mental health check very important.
We do those every day. Every day.
I love it, I love it. So I want to ask you as well.
(28:15):
Of course, another thing in our platform, self love is
important. So we know that self love is
something that we need that confidence.
And self love is also a way to live by example, especially with
a job that you have working withchildren.
Act like I said, I can't stress enough.
And as you said as well, the children are the future.
It's not just a cliche, it's a fact.
(28:36):
These are the future. These are going to be our future
leaders and our future communitybuilders.
So it's so important what they see and just when they see
people that value themselves. So how do you define self love
and what role has it played in your life?
I always ask you for that. But I want to actually add
something to your question because of your job because like
(28:57):
I said, so special what you're doing.
I'm a parent as well. So we know how important it is
to have the right people pouringinto our children.
So I do want to add into the question that I do normally ask
on my guests, but I want to add to yours.
So I do want to ask you, how do you define self love and what
role has it played in your life?But also, what role does it play
(29:18):
for you to also pour into the youth, the children that you are
taking care of so that they alsoknow to love themselves as well?
Yeah, I think that with us again, going back to morning
meeting and at once a month a house meeting like we do kudos
there. Kudos is where the students get
(29:40):
the opportunity to recognize someone else that's in the in
the room. It doesn't have to be a
classmate best friend, it could be anybody.
The teachers have the opportunity to recognize
somebody that's teaching them love.
And I always tell them and literally, you know, with the
positive affirmation, I believe in me.
I believe that I can be the bestthat I I can be.
I believe that I'm I have I'm smart, I believe I'm capable.
(30:04):
So these things that we're teaching them self love every
day that you say positive affirmations.
We have a positive affirmation here that students say every
single day. Even the students that are three
years old know the positive affirmation this year changed.
But again, I try to make sure that they believe that they hear
(30:25):
it because a lot of our students, they, they, they don't
get, especially my older ones, they don't get the love that
they deserve or they want in their home.
So I always try and teach them, you love yourself first.
You celebrate yourself first. We do birthdays here at the
school. Some of the kids are like shy to
go out in the middle of what you're celebrating yourself.
We teaching you to love yourself.
(30:47):
We teaching you confidence. For me, I had to.
I have to love myself for sure first before I come in here and
do all of this work. You understand I'm saying, but I
try to make sure that my staff know that I am, I am an example
to them and that is what, you know, I hope they're looking at.
(31:09):
And because I think that's important and the students are.
You're an example to the students.
As well Yes yes yes I love it. I love it because just
especially at that fragile age and like you said, from three to
senior year, the whole duration of adolescence is super
important. It molds and shapes how you
(31:29):
think about yourself. And unfortunately, a lot of
children, even I can say personally have had a bad
experience with an adult at a time when we needed somebody.
And it really it's not a good thing.
So it's so important when we have educators like yourself and
the program that you have where we run into these young people
(31:50):
because it's so important to just tell them to love
themselves. It just makes such a huge
difference in how your life can turn out.
So I definitely appreciate what you guys are doing.
This has been an amazing conversation.
Before we end everything though,we do end things on a positive
affirmation. And so I know you're ready for
this one, but can you leave us with a positive affirmation?
(32:12):
And can you make it centered around something that will
encourage, whether it's a teacher tuning into this, a
student or a parent, can we makeit education focused?
What's a positive affirmation? Leave it.
Well, I was going to share my favorite quote.
I don't know if it's well. Leave give it for that.
I don't want you've been you've been great, so I don't want to
give you an exam. The school just started so just
give. It so my favorite quote even to
(32:34):
students, parents, staff members, people that desire to
want to be educators or entrepreneurs, you miss 100% of
the shots you don't take. So take that shot today.
My other favorite quote I'm going to leave on too is get
educated and win. And all you do get educated and
win. So I always tell my students
since it was a joke, but I won'tthrow that joke out because I
(32:56):
don't think that may be a joke if no one's laughing.
But I used to have to tell my students, whatever you desire to
do, there's a job for everythingeducated in it and when.
I love it because if we just love ourselves and we have that
education, have that knowledge of the people always be ahead
and when in life. So thank you again everyone.
This is Miss Cynthia Smith, Dr. Cynthia Smith mind with the
(33:19):
feature Academy in Jacksonville,FL and everybody how they can
connect with you and then maybe someone and who want to
contribute to help because I know you guys, like you said,
you need it takes a village. So just tell everybody how they
can contact you and how they canlearn more.
Oh, it's simple. Doctor Smith Jacks, DRSMITHJAX,
Doctor Smith Jacks, if you put that in, it's going to come up.
(33:42):
Instagram is going to come up the my website and all of my
businesses are linked to the website as well.
The educated entrepreneur, you'll find everything on there.
I would love to connect with anybody that's watching or
interested or just have questions about education
overall because I'm the educatedentrepreneur.
(34:05):
Awesome, thank you again and thank you for everything that
you're doing. Again, like I said, it's a very
special person that can work with our future, which are our
babies. So thank you so much for
everything that you do and good luck to all the students.
This is a beautiful new year. So I'm thanks, I'm just grateful
and I want to just pray for all the parents and students that
starting off this year because as we said, the future.
(34:28):
So again, guys, this is Doctor Cynthia Smith.
So make sure you guys just remember this, do whatever we
can according to our children because they really are our
future. And children are fragile,
they're special and they deal with things too.
So let's just make sure that we do everything we can to pour
into them. And as every single year, we
want to make sure our kids are successful.
(34:50):
So don't be afraid to reach out because it really does take
availage. So whatever you need, make sure
you reach out to the people in your community, family, friends,
to just get all of the support that you need so that we all can
be the best that we can for one another and our children.
But thank you guys for tuning into this episode.
You can catch this and more www.goclean.com.
(35:10):
Make sure you guys be safe and go love yourself.
She's acquaint about a business working hard on a mission head
hyperb driven crown on, never tilted.
Go queen, go queen.
Grab your print or digital copy of Go Queen magazine today.
Stay inspired by the incredible stories and features inside.
Visit our website to grab your copy now.
Hey Queen, welcome to another episode of the Q Chat.
Today, we welcome Doctor CynthiaSmith, the visionary founder of
Minds of the Feature Academy. From mentoring youth to leading
(00:22):
a groundbreaking K12 STEM school, Doctor Smith shares her
inspiring journey of transforming education and
empowering the next generation of leaders.
TuneIn to hear how she turned challenges into opportunities
and continues to make an impact in her community and beyond.
Working hard on a mission. So thank you guys for joining
(01:13):
another episode of the Q Chat today.
My special guest is Doctor Cynthia Smith and Cynthia is the
founder of the Minds of the Future Academy in Jacksonville,
FL. And as we know, this is the busy
time of year back to school. So we're going to talk about her
Academy and what inspired her tofound it.
And also some advice we can havefor our students that's starting
(01:33):
this upcoming amazing school year and everything they have to
look forward to for the future and also the parents who are
supporting them. How are you doing today?
I'm good. How are you?
Good. So nice to meet you.
So of course this is an amazing Academy that you found.
It is AK12 school with over 150 black students.
And this is one thing I thought was really interesting.
(01:56):
It provides an arts and communications component as
well. Students as young as five years
old, how to conduct a media interview, create a robot and
more. So this is amazing.
So I definitely want to start off with just learning what is
the background behind the school?
What inspired you to found the school?
So what inspired me was my education, the the way in which
(02:20):
I received my education and alsothe area of town in which I grew
up and I was educated in my school is was created
specifically within the three minutes of where I grew up at.
And I believe that it was so important for me to incorporate
(02:41):
STEM, the STEM concept, because those were things that I didn't
have. I felt as though if I would have
had the experience in the education that I'm awarding to
students now, I would have been in a much different path than
where I am in life. And some of the the some of the
hardships and struggles that I encompassed, I probably would
(03:01):
not have encompassed them because I would have had the
education that I'm giving. We are free private STEM school.
We are the first free private STEM school in North Florida.
We offer students the opportunity to think creatively,
engage academically with arts and careers that they
necessarily would not even they they could or could not use in
(03:24):
college. So we prepare students for
career readiness as well. I'm very proud of what we have
created is the K through 12 Academy and we definitely are in
a capital to campus campaign to raise funds for our forever home
because we have grown so much until we just really could
(03:45):
utilize the space. But we also make sure with our
growth that we're managing the numbers so that we can offer all
of the programs to students authentically as young as five
years old as you stated. Wow.
That is something else. And so generally what is the
process and applying for the school, how long does it take to
get accepted? Do you guys have, I can imagine,
(04:06):
I'm assuming you probably have like a lengthy waiting list.
So what's the process? And for parents who are
interested in getting their children in the school?
OK, so it's a three-step process.
The first thing I must meet all parents, families, students,
because I think that's very important because we're entering
when you come to minds of the future Academy, we we are as a
(04:28):
parent, they're entering into a parent partnership agreement.
And So what that means is that we have you have chosen us to be
your educational partners. And so I need to meet you, meet
your child. I mean, it's not really an
interview, it's very informal, but I believe that that's very
important because I need to knowwhy and how is education
important to the child as well as to the family because that's
(04:48):
going to be the the child's biggest supporter other than us
here at the school. The second thing is they have to
apply for the scholarship, whichis Florida Step Up for Students
Scholarship. It's a scholarship that is
awarded to any family that livesin Florida.
It used to be an income based scholarship, but now it is a
(05:10):
scholarship that anybody could actually utilize to send their
children to private school. Now it doesn't pay their entire
tuition. That's why you heard me mention
Capital to Campus Campaign. Because the scholarship only
pays 50%, the population of my parents cannot afford the other
50%. So that is where the partnership
(05:32):
piece also comes in because I require my parents to do 30
hours of volunteerism at my school because we can get way
more out of our program if we have more hands on deck.
And it as it pertains to fundraisers, as it pertains to
events the school may have, having their parents support
here, it goes a very long ways. And the third process is just
(05:57):
pretty much applying and attending orientation here in
our school. We want to make sure that you
understand what the requirementsare, what you are engaging in.
So during the school year, thereare no in, you know, any, you
know, complications about understanding the policy because
we want to make sure that that is clear orientation throughout
(06:18):
the school year. We do not enroll students.
We do have a deadline. So when you say there's a
waiting list, typically we cut it off before there is an even
opportunity to have a waiting list because we do get calls
throughout the school year, hey,you know, asking could they
transfer their child in? But that just keeps the
(06:39):
community and the culture authentically close.
Staff know exactly who they coming into every day, who
they're teaching, they know their students, they know their
families and vice versa. So, I mean, it's really a lot of
benefits into the three-step process that we have for
incoming families. Wow, that's something else.
(07:00):
And I do like how there's requirements for the parents
too, to be involved because as we know, it takes a village and
that's, I just like it because as you said, it's getting the
families involved. So I just think that's a very
great thing because I feel like when parents are involved and
then when they're required to beinvolved, it makes them, I feel
more comfortable and they're like, OK, this school really
(07:21):
does care about my family and mychild's future because you're
inviting that parent to be involved in the process.
So I just think that's a great thing too because it also builds
community. So I want to ask you definitely
about this curriculum, which I think it's cool.
Just just the things that I've heard about.
So can you give us some more details?
I know it's the STEM program, but just about this media
(07:42):
interviews, creating robots, things like that.
What are just some of the amazing programs that these
children are participating in atthis grade school?
And also, how does this work with how do you guys come up
with some of these great things with the curriculum?
Yeah. So for the curriculum piece for
the academic model, I actually created this academic model
because over the years of me being an educator, it seems as
(08:06):
though what has worked was something that could not always
that have been done for studentswhen I was working in the public
sector. And that is, I don't know if you
ever heard the term differentiated instruction or
response to intervention. That is where students are
tiered into groups based on skill or ability and they are
working closely with the teacherso to get what they need out of
(08:29):
the lesson. So I basically have incorporated
that model into my school. So academically, students
receive this instruction in small groups Monday through
Thursday. On Friday they, they are
attending electives. So the electives that they
attain are all aligned with the STEM, that program that we, that
(08:52):
we offer in the past, we've offered gardening for students.
So they understand healthy eating, they understand
agriculture. We've had farmers to come over
to really work with them and understand the process of, you
know, how to eat fruits and vegetables and different,
different types of fruits and vegetables because you will be
(09:14):
amazed that students are not familiar with anything other
than maybe a collard green or string beans.
So especially, you know, in the neighborhood in which I'm
educating, we've offered robotics in different forms and
concepts of robotics. So I bring in partners in the
community so they can say, OK, they can align as well and
understand, OK, if I want to be a engineer and I work on robots,
(09:39):
these are the types of careers. This is what these people do.
So we have a big STEM festival every year in August so that our
incoming students can understandwhat is STEM, What does that
mean? How does it look?
They can interact with it because that's so important.
But just we, we have dance, we have ballet, jazz, tab, hip hop,
(10:02):
We have a marching band, which honestly, we went viral last
year because it was our first year, the marching band.
I had students in there as youngas three years old.
We had majorettes and, and we still do.
So we're going on year two of the band.
It's like it's such a big deal to sing some videos.
So I really light up off that one because I was a marching
band student myself. And then we also have visual
(10:25):
arts as well, financial literacy.
That's a real big one that we have.
And now we're incorporating cosmetology, TV production,
videography. All of these things are taken on
Fridays. The students have a full
schedule. So it's like, you know, I work
Monday through Thursday, then I get to come to work on Friday at
my school. Just enjoy because you know,
(10:48):
it's a great thing to have students to want to be able to
learn all of these skills and trade.
My students that are in 11th and12th grade, they they are, they
have, they are required to participate in an external
internship program. So we have some of them
understanding how to work in a, believe it or not, paralegal.
(11:09):
So in different attorneys offices and new this year and
listen, this is great because I always try to make sure my
students understand like things like this happen every day.
But obviously I had to get parent consents, but we have
students working in funeral homes.
So they're understanding, you know, that whole process and
(11:29):
within itself, but it's, it's it's great because you know, we
teaching them life skills. We want them to be ready for
college and career readiness. And that is what STEM is about
because students graduating and have graduated equated and
worked in those different STEM careers and some of them haven't
even went to college and making six figures.
(11:49):
We met an 18 year old student ata robotics competition a few
years ago. He was actually building a
street light intersection robot prototype and the city of my
city, city of Jacksonville, was paying this 18 year old student
for his creative thinking. 6 figures, literally.
(12:10):
So it's just, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's a blessing to
be able to be, being able to award.
And like I say, I educate the community.
That's why I call myself the educated entrepreneur because I
have educated along the way. This is what we do.
This is what we stand for. And I, I want my, my, my
(12:32):
community to be encouraged and know that.
And I also want to be a motivation and inspiration to
other educators to do the do do some of the things that I'm
doing because I believe studentsbrings our sponges.
That's why I start is actually, you say it's 5, but I actually
started as young as three years old.
So I have a preschool as well. We have a preschool and last
(12:53):
year we had the one of the largest preschool classes
graduate. As as a matter of fact, we had
the largest preschool to graduate until this year.
We had no room in our kindergarten program for any new
students. Yeah.
That's really amazing. What have been one of the most,
(13:14):
I guess, special moments? What are one of your biggest
success stories since starting the school?
My biggest success story had to be this past year I had.
It was my first time that I actually was.
I don't want to say first time, but it was it.
I've always worked in secondary education, so this past year I
(13:34):
decided to take high school students.
Prior to that, I was only doing elementary students, so I
enrolled 6th through 12th grade students.
I had three 12th graders last year and they all, each one of
them came to me and they had various backgrounds, but it was
just one student. He had been kicked out of nine
(13:55):
schools and he came to me and hedid what he was supposed to be
doing. He is a success story, truly.
Because he graduated. He actually has a very good job,
learned a lot of skills, met a lot of people, and they helped
shape his entire direction. No troublesome things has
(14:16):
happened since he enrolled in myschool and thereafter, as a
matter of fact, believe it or not, I just talked to his mom
like literally right before thisinterview.
I check on him stories like it's, it's multiple stories like
that I've had at different levels.
But the biggest success story, just to, you know, kind of sum
it up is me seeing students reach their highest level of
(14:39):
success for students. Me being able to educate parents
and they say, you know what? I ain't never been involved in
the school, but I'm going to do this.
I like this working with their children, being able to see
that. And then last but not least,
this is a big deal for me is educating my staff, employing
and, and, and increasing economic empowerment here in my
(15:05):
community. That's, those are like 3 big
things for me because I haven't missed the payroll yet, you
know, And so that's, that's just, that's major for me to be
able to, you know, see that I'm a part of economic development,
economic wealth in my community.And, and I'm an African American
woman. Wow.
(15:27):
What are some of the things you have to just encourage the new
educators? Because education, of course, we
know, is an important field. You know, children need
educators. We need schools, parents need
schools that we can be confidentand feel secure when we send our
children off to these schools, you know, and education is such
(15:48):
a tricky thing because we still want teachers to be paid.
As you mentioned, economic stability is important.
Teachers are anyone in in the education field, Administrators
and teachers, everyone. We want them to be treated
fairly. We want them to be paid fairly.
We want them to just have what they need.
And we know the education systemis something that's always
(16:09):
growing. We always have to work on.
What are some of the things you can say to just encourage the
new educators that's coming in? I can imagine it may be a scary
thing for people that are new toteaching because things change
so much and sometimes people saynegative things.
But the field, as I said, it's important.
We need the educators, We need the people who are investing in
(16:32):
our children. So what are some of the things
you can say to just encourage people joining this field?
One of the things, well, first of all, when I actually went
into education, I think back to my career.
I had no books in the classroom.I came in after a sub.
It was one of the toughest environments and jobs I had ever
(16:52):
had. I wasn't an education major,
actually was a psychology major and I was probably like a lot of
people today let me do this classroom thing because I can't
do anything with my degree unless I go back to school and
get some more certifications or another degree, which I was in
the middle of doing. But let me just try this
education thing out. It's hard to it.
(17:14):
It was hard and I know it's still hard today because the
kids are much different from 10/20 something years ago when I
started teaching. My best advice is, is definitely
be passionate about it. Find your passion.
If this is not your passion, I recommend don't do it because
(17:34):
you're damaging our future. I look at it as if when I look
at these kids, whether they're in the 12th grade or two years
old, they are our future. We are preparing them to be
somebody someday. And so I think that even myself,
I have two children, I want themto be guided by someone that is
at least passionate. I hire staff members if they're
(17:56):
passionate because I mean, your heart is in the right place.
I can teach you how to receive the instruction, how to do a
great job, how to be the best classroom teacher, best English,
math, reading teacher ever. I can teach you those things,
but if your heart is in the right is your, if your heart is
is not, is not in the right place, I can't teach you that.
I can't teach those things because you're not going to be
(18:16):
open to receiving them. Secondly, professional
development, I believe that is nobody's responsibility, No
principal, no Superintendent responsibility to say, hey,
Doctor Smith, I believe you needto be more educated than this.
As an educator, you know what you lack in, you know, you need
to learn more about, take the initiative and be developed
(18:36):
professionally. And then thirdly, if you're
going to go into education, justto make sure you're working with
a demographic of people where you feel as though you can be
the best and where you can be most successful with impacting
lives because that is what education it's about.
It's about impacting lives, whether you're impacting the
student life, if you heard me say a parent life or even your
(18:57):
colleagues life, that is about impacting lives.
So those things alone will, you know, keep you grounded or they
will not. So I mean, it's just that
simple. I will, I take my staff every
year to this conference in Atlanta, GA.
It's the at the Ron Clark Academy this year.
(19:17):
I don't know how we're going to get there because I went from 8
staff members honey to 28. So with that being said, that's
a lot of $1000 per employee. But I'm going to make it happen
because Doctor Cynthia Smith always does.
But and the reason why I'm goingto make it happen is because I
believe that it's important thateducators have the opportunity
to be profession developed. I believe that you should be
(19:39):
under the right leadership and guidance because that is going
to tank you or that is going to support you, help you to move
you into the direction of, you know what this is this, this is
all right. I, I was a major, my major was
psychology, sociology, My master's was counseling.
I was going to be a counselor, atherapist, not a school
(20:02):
counselor, but a therapist, a licensed mental health
counselor. That is what I was going to
school for. But all while I was getting my
master's, I was teaching when I finished.
My master's, I was like, you know what, I like teaching, I
like education. So basically did I just go to
school for all these years for no reason?
Like cuz I'm not going to do this right?
(20:24):
And then I end up getting my doctorate in educational
leadership, organizational leadership because I was like,
this is great. Because of those three things.
I want to impact lives. I was passionate and I was
guided. I was got it properly.
So I think those things are things that matter.
Wow. That's something else.
(20:44):
I love it. I love it.
So I want to ask you as well, what have been any and I'm sure
what have been any challenges? And because if you have a very
complex job, I'll say that because you're doing something
so important, because you're putting the whole school
together, you know, like I said,there's different components.
As we know, as I said, it takes a village.
(21:06):
So you have to be, you're the administrator, you, you have the
teacher that you're pouring into, you have the students, the
family. This is a lot.
So what have been some of the challenges and putting this
together because it's growing and it's doing amazing things.
So how do you put this together like this?
How do you overcome just any challenges that you faced to
(21:26):
keep pushing to put this together?
Yeah, I think that I, I, I will say this is very important.
I have built a network of support.
So with my reputation for doing what I'm saying to you, I'm
doing so in the African Americancommunity.
(21:50):
That means a lot and and so to the African American community
means a lot. So you can imagine to
individuals that are not AfricanAmerican, like meeting someone
that says this is what I'm doingand has demonstrated this is
what I'm doing for children, forthe community.
(22:11):
My challenges hasn't been, they hasn't they have not been, I
guess as problematic as a challenge normally is.
And I'm not going to sit here and say that everything's been
easy because I have encompassed challenges.
But I think that when I've encompassed them, I have such a
(22:31):
strong network of people. I can call them for advice on
how to get out of something or hey, this is what I need and you
know, it's it. I'm not going to say it's
readily available like that, butI just have a very good network
of support of people that understands that I'm a solid,
(22:55):
reliable, a private school owner.
And I expect excellence in my students, my parents and my
staff to the point where they know.
So if they see me, like for example, this year, it could be
something as minor as this school year.
(23:16):
I decided to extend one week grace period for oh, I decided
to give a one week grace period for students parents to purchase
their uniforms. So students parents that have
been with me for the past four years was like, Doctor Smith,
(23:37):
can we see you for a second? Sure.
Oh, well, you've never given us a grace period.
I was like, I haven't, but this year we, you know, had a lot of
students and I decided to give agrace pair because we're in the
uniform company. But just that point that I'm the
point that I'm making is that they understand and they know
(23:59):
that I follow policy procedures.They understand that what I say
I'm going to do, they know that I have their children's best
interests at heart. And I feel though, that starts
at the top. And so that alone like really
reduces a lot of challenges thatI may have.
And then when I do have them, knowing that I can call on these
people, even a parent, the, you know, hey, this is what's going
(24:22):
on. And it's just no questions
asked. Like what do we need to do to
get it done? So, you know, that's that's that
in itself has been a very good thing.
Wow, that's something else. So I want to ask you one thing
on our platform, it's really important mental health and
Wellness. I want to ask you, what are some
of the things that the school does to incorporate mental
(24:43):
health and Wellness for the students?
And because it's important and you know, kids, they have to be
poured into emotionally as well.So what are some of the things
you guys do to cater to that? So I truly believe that I, I
truly believe in research and believe it or not, follow Doctor
Smith jacks.com, anybody that's watching, because I literally
(25:05):
just posted this last night. We do morning meetings every
morning and we do house meetings.
So basically, like I said, we are a STEM school.
Our students are broken down into houses.
So science, we have students that are in House of Science,
House of Technology, House of Engineering, House of Arts and
House of Mass. So basically steam.
(25:25):
And so every morning our students come in and we have we
set our day with morning meeting.
We all going to the gym and we prepare our day with music,
saying our positive affirmations, giving kudos and
any announcements. And then we also, you know, have
a word of the month. Like we have a character trait
(25:46):
of the month and we want students to have enthusiasm to
start their day. So we have this music plan and
you know, we repping who houses the best house and it sounds
like it's a lot, right? But it's 15 minutes every
morning or less every morning. Research says that listening to
music in the morning can reduce anxiety and improve a child's
(26:08):
mood, mental health, alertness, all of those things.
It does positive things for whatwe do in the morning.
Students love it. The first week of school, we
didn't have morning meeting. I'm just give you an example.
We did not have morning meeting.The students will stop at me, me
and we, hey, I noticed we haven't had morning meeting.
Is that coming back? Is that coming back?
(26:28):
Doctor Smith is that coming back, it gives an opportunity to
have a sense of belonging. You know what I mean?
I talked to too many people at school, but I got my house.
I have my teammates in my house.Once a month we do house
challenges. So it could be like a math focus
of the month. You know what team can solve
them all math problem the fastest, But it's just like it's
(26:49):
just an opportunity for studentsto be able to engage creatively,
think and work together, understand partnership within
school system and within our school system as well as and it
it improves their lack of well, it improves their confidence
(27:10):
because that is what we want them to do.
We want them to be confident citizens.
We want I have a lot of visitorsin the school.
So who house is the best house, you know, and then then they
love that. They love that motivation.
It gives them motivation every morning before they go to class.
So for us, morning meetings is like a mental health check in.
All the students come in, you atyour house leader, your house
(27:32):
administrator, everybody, you know, have the opportunity to
just really kind of talking and and understand that that
closeness because if you are my house and I know this well, you
know what, it doesn't seem like Cynthia is a little excited, you
know herself this morning. So I'm gonna I'm gonna do that
mental health check before you even get to your teacher.
And that's so important because the mental health of a of a
(27:54):
child is important. The mental health of a teacher
is important. You know, that's the way for me
to get in there as well as the owner and I get to see my
teachers kind of scaring them inthe morning.
I know that she not smiling. I know that she not over here
with the group. What's going on?
So mental health check very important.
We do those every day. Every day.
I love it, I love it. So I want to ask you as well.
(28:15):
Of course, another thing in our platform, self love is
important. So we know that self love is
something that we need that confidence.
And self love is also a way to live by example, especially with
a job that you have working withchildren.
Act like I said, I can't stress enough.
And as you said as well, the children are the future.
It's not just a cliche, it's a fact.
(28:36):
These are the future. These are going to be our future
leaders and our future communitybuilders.
So it's so important what they see and just when they see
people that value themselves. So how do you define self love
and what role has it played in your life?
I always ask you for that. But I want to actually add
something to your question because of your job because like
(28:57):
I said, so special what you're doing.
I'm a parent as well. So we know how important it is
to have the right people pouringinto our children.
So I do want to add into the question that I do normally ask
on my guests, but I want to add to yours.
So I do want to ask you, how do you define self love and what
role has it played in your life?But also, what role does it play
(29:18):
for you to also pour into the youth, the children that you are
taking care of so that they alsoknow to love themselves as well?
Yeah, I think that with us again, going back to morning
meeting and at once a month a house meeting like we do kudos
there. Kudos is where the students get
(29:40):
the opportunity to recognize someone else that's in the in
the room. It doesn't have to be a
classmate best friend, it could be anybody.
The teachers have the opportunity to recognize
somebody that's teaching them love.
And I always tell them and literally, you know, with the
positive affirmation, I believe in me.
I believe that I can be the bestthat I I can be.
I believe that I'm I have I'm smart, I believe I'm capable.
(30:04):
So these things that we're teaching them self love every
day that you say positive affirmations.
We have a positive affirmation here that students say every
single day. Even the students that are three
years old know the positive affirmation this year changed.
But again, I try to make sure that they believe that they hear
(30:25):
it because a lot of our students, they, they, they don't
get, especially my older ones, they don't get the love that
they deserve or they want in their home.
So I always try and teach them, you love yourself first.
You celebrate yourself first. We do birthdays here at the
school. Some of the kids are like shy to
go out in the middle of what you're celebrating yourself.
We teaching you to love yourself.
(30:47):
We teaching you confidence. For me, I had to.
I have to love myself for sure first before I come in here and
do all of this work. You understand I'm saying, but I
try to make sure that my staff know that I am, I am an example
to them and that is what, you know, I hope they're looking at.
(31:09):
And because I think that's important and the students are.
You're an example to the students.
As well Yes yes yes I love it. I love it because just
especially at that fragile age and like you said, from three to
senior year, the whole duration of adolescence is super
important. It molds and shapes how you
(31:29):
think about yourself. And unfortunately, a lot of
children, even I can say personally have had a bad
experience with an adult at a time when we needed somebody.
And it really it's not a good thing.
So it's so important when we have educators like yourself and
the program that you have where we run into these young people
(31:50):
because it's so important to just tell them to love
themselves. It just makes such a huge
difference in how your life can turn out.
So I definitely appreciate what you guys are doing.
This has been an amazing conversation.
Before we end everything though,we do end things on a positive
affirmation. And so I know you're ready for
this one, but can you leave us with a positive affirmation?
(32:12):
And can you make it centered around something that will
encourage, whether it's a teacher tuning into this, a
student or a parent, can we makeit education focused?
What's a positive affirmation? Leave it.
Well, I was going to share my favorite quote.
I don't know if it's well. Leave give it for that.
I don't want you've been you've been great, so I don't want to
give you an exam. The school just started so just
give. It so my favorite quote even to
(32:34):
students, parents, staff members, people that desire to
want to be educators or entrepreneurs, you miss 100% of
the shots you don't take. So take that shot today.
My other favorite quote I'm going to leave on too is get
educated and win. And all you do get educated and
win. So I always tell my students
since it was a joke, but I won'tthrow that joke out because I
(32:56):
don't think that may be a joke if no one's laughing.
But I used to have to tell my students, whatever you desire to
do, there's a job for everythingeducated in it and when.
I love it because if we just love ourselves and we have that
education, have that knowledge of the people always be ahead
and when in life. So thank you again everyone.
This is Miss Cynthia Smith, Dr. Cynthia Smith mind with the
(33:19):
feature Academy in Jacksonville,FL and everybody how they can
connect with you and then maybe someone and who want to
contribute to help because I know you guys, like you said,
you need it takes a village. So just tell everybody how they
can contact you and how they canlearn more.
Oh, it's simple. Doctor Smith Jacks, DRSMITHJAX,
Doctor Smith Jacks, if you put that in, it's going to come up.
(33:42):
Instagram is going to come up the my website and all of my
businesses are linked to the website as well.
The educated entrepreneur, you'll find everything on there.
I would love to connect with anybody that's watching or
interested or just have questions about education
overall because I'm the educatedentrepreneur.
(34:05):
Awesome, thank you again and thank you for everything that
you're doing. Again, like I said, it's a very
special person that can work with our future, which are our
babies. So thank you so much for
everything that you do and good luck to all the students.
This is a beautiful new year. So I'm thanks, I'm just grateful
and I want to just pray for all the parents and students that
starting off this year because as we said, the future.
(34:28):
So again, guys, this is Doctor Cynthia Smith.
So make sure you guys just remember this, do whatever we
can according to our children because they really are our
future. And children are fragile,
they're special and they deal with things too.
So let's just make sure that we do everything we can to pour
into them. And as every single year, we
want to make sure our kids are successful.
(34:50):
So don't be afraid to reach out because it really does take
availage. So whatever you need, make sure
you reach out to the people in your community, family, friends,
to just get all of the support that you need so that we all can
be the best that we can for one another and our children.
But thank you guys for tuning into this episode.
You can catch this and more www.goclean.com.
(35:10):
Make sure you guys be safe and go love yourself.
She's acquaint about a business working hard on a mission head
hyperb driven crown on, never tilted.
Go queen, go queen.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.