School wasn’t always Jayzen Smith’s priority.
For a time, during his 10th grade year at West Philadelphia High, Smith didn’t know where he was going to sleep at night, or how he’d scrape together his next meal.
“I stopped coming to school,” said Smith. “I was not doing the right things. It got so bad that I used to come only for first period, and leave out.”
But Smith’s teachers noticed. They pulled him aside to ask what he needed and how they could help. They told him he was smart but he had to come to school and envision a future for himself.
“That showed me I had people who cared about me,” said Smith. Those conversations, those educators, galvanized him. Coming to school steadily built opportunities — new skills, internships, paying jobs, and a solid future.
Smith graduated with honors last week after earning a citywide Philadelphia School District honor this winter and maintaining perfect attendance since 2023.
He’s employed full-time in operations with the Penn Medicine health system, a job with benefits and tuition reimbursement. He’s eyeing trade school after he socks away enough for his own car and apartment.
The diploma, the accolades, and the steady path were not a given, said Smith, 19.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to be dead or in jail by now,” said Smith. “Everything still feels unreal.”
‘He just has this way about him’
Marie Wilkins-Walker, a veteran West Philadelphia computer networking teacher, knew there was something special about Smith, even when he was hardly showing up to class.
“He just has this way about him, he says hi to everybody, and I noticed he caught on very quick — he was very intelligent,” Wilkins-Walker said.
Wilkins-Walker and another teacher set up a meeting with Smith during those low-attendance days. Just come to class, they said. You’re so smart, they told him. West is good at connecting kids with resources to fill in the gaps that might exist at home, they said.
“When we started talking about college, he told me that no one had ever talked to him about college,” said Wilkins-Walker. “He was in 10th grade, and no one had ever talked to him about college.”
Technology wasn’t on Smith’s radar — he made music and wanted to be a rapper. But he started spending more time with Wilkins-Walker, who also serves as West’s technology coordinator, and picked up some skills.
Smith doesn’t need prompting to seize opportunities. By his senior year, he was an invaluable member of West’s tech team, fixing Chromebooks and solving staff’s IT issues. He worked for the district supporting other schools installing computer security systems and fixing broken hardware. He volunteered his services to other schools, and he held two separate internships with Penn, leading to his full-time post-graduation job.
“He’s just been an amazing young man,” said Wilkins-Walker.
Smith’s resumé is impressive but what sets him apart is his soft skills — he’s the guy who, without prompting, makes the new student feel at home, speaks to everyone who walks in the room, and solves tech problems without making anyone feel less than.
When Wilkins-Walker’s own grandson began attending West, she wanted him to meet Smith, because she knew Smith would make the boy feel comfortable, and he did.
It’s not lost on Wilkins-Walker what Smith, as a young Black man in Philadelphia, might have become.
“For our students, the line is so thin,” said Wilkins-Walker. “You don’t even sometimes know you’re crossing over to the wrong side of the room — from friends or neighborhoods.”
Keeping busy
Opportunities are what set him apart from people from his West Philadelphia neighborhood who find themselves on the wrong side of that line, Smith said.
“Keeping busy, that’s what’s keeping me out of trouble,” said Smith. “You got to kind something to keep you occupied. Certain people in certain environments, if they have time on their hands, it’s tough. I grew up with them, they’re still my friends, and I just try to tell them, do what I’m doing.”
Smith doesn’t talk much about the dark times. He’s more interested in the future, he said.
Smith and his mom both narrowly avoided crying on graduation day, he said, because of a mutual pact to stay away from tears. But earning his diploma has made him reflect on what he came through to get there.
“Ms. Walker,” he said, “she probably saved my life.”