Help Shuri Smith Get Through College!!

Greetings Village,

My name is Maurice Goodman and I am just one of the many mentors accountable for young people within the San Francisco historically underserved communities like; Bayview, Sunnydale, Fillmore, Lakeview and Potrero Hill. The youth we serve are likely to be first-generation college students that have overcome multiple challenges and trauma that would have broken the strongest person with resources & support from any other walk of life. Yet, they persevere! I am writing to request your support in uplifting and joining our collective movement to support one of those such students.

Shuri, a 2nd-year student at USF, is the oldest sibling with siblings that have looked to her as a role model and example of educational excellence and community stewardship from a very young age. I have known her for numerous years and have witnessed her commitment to herself, her family and her community. As Executive Director of a local non-profit, I have personally watched her work as a mentor to younger students, and her peers on a team as well as independently. Along with graduating from St. Ignatius College Preparatory with high marks, as a student-athlete team manager and dancer, she created a local community Red Cross club to bring disaster preparedness awareness to her community and promoted community blood services during the pandemic. Her compassion and care for others are just a few characteristics that make her a great young leader worthy of our support to make sure she excels and completes her undergraduate studies at USF majoring in Marketing.

Below is a message from Shuri in her own words…

My name is Shuri Smith. I am a first-generation college student, I am in my second year at the University of San Francisco (USF). My first semester of college was one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. I experienced three deaths within the year which caused me to fail to meet Satisfactory Academic Progress. While it is very challenging for me to write this letter, I am writing to not only explain what has stopped me from excelling academically but also to explain my resolve to take the next steps to prove that I am more than capable of being successful at USF. At the beginning of the year, I lost one of my closest family members, who I looked at as my brother and friend to gun violence. It took a huge toll on my life. This loss hurt me the most and took me the longest time to grieve. Although it wasn’t easy, I didn’t let it be the reason why my future dreams were derailed. If anything, it gave me more hope to push forward. I graduated from high school and decided to still go to college despite the emotional trauma I was going through. As stated, I am the first in my family to attend college and have always talked about attending college, even if the people around me weren’t going to college. My cousin always told me that it’s ok to be different and that if school was my thing to go for it and not let anybody discourage me. Entering college was a whole new world for me. When I first started, I was promised that I was going to have a mentor to help guide me, but that never happened. I didn’t feel welcomed or included within the community.

I felt that USF wasn’t for me. But regardless of that I still continued to try my best and show up. As the semester began, I finally felt everything start to balance out when another unexpected death happened. One night in my neighborhood, several shots rang out and one of my childhood friends across the street died. This is when everything went completely left, which made it very hard for me to focus. Despite this, I still tried my best to come to school. A couple of months later, I lost my aunt and surrogate mother. At this point, I wasn’t in the right headspace. I just checked out and my teachers started to notice. I then emailed my casa coach telling her that I would like to withdraw from school but that I would finish this semester. My counselors and casa coach advised that it would be best for me to focus on my mental health and then give it some time to process to make the decision. I originally planned to return in spring 2024 but over this semester break, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to return in fall 2023. I am ready to get back to working on my purpose in life and doing whatever it takes for me to be successful. The break was the right thing to do and I am so happy that I took the leave of absence. I allowed myself to focus on my mental health. I was able to rejuvenate and finally take the time to put my mental health first. I am willing to do whatever it takes to meet the requirements of Satisfactory Academic Progress.

So far, I have been working closely with my Casa coach, community mentors and other support systems to ensure that I follow the right path to reach my education goals.

I am taking advantage of this opportunity for a fresh new start; I even reached out to the first-year orientation group to see if I could get a second chance to attend so that I could get the full experience and luckily they approved it. So I will be attending the orientation, which will help me feel more comfortable with transitioning back into school. Additionally, living off campus was hard for me. This year I took the initiative to apply for on-campus housing. I am still waiting to hear back from them but this was also another step pushing me forward. I have created a four-year plan that I will be sure to follow to make sure that I am on the right track with my degree evaluation. Despite any challenges, I will continue to work to get to where I want to be in life. I really hope this letter gives you a clear enough picture of my situation and need for assistance. I hope that you understand me and are willing to give me a second chance to reach my full potential.

I respectfully ask that you take the opportunity to consider my story and join others like you to support my educational journey with an investment in me and my future.