For the Smith family, it’s all about not letting the “start” stop you.
Jessica Smith and her husband, Robert, are the proud parents of thirteen children ranging in age from 6 to 21. The family resides in a home located in a remote off-grid area east of Snowflake, AZ. Currently, seven members of the family are attending Northland Pioneer College (NPC), six of whom are part of the Metallica Scholars Initiative.
The family’s journey began two years ago when Jessica found herself in a typical “sassy teenager” moment with her 15-year-old daughter, Emma. Neither Jessica nor Robert had graduated from High School. Emma, a typical teen, challenged their parental authority, with “Mom, I don’t have to listen to you. You’re stupid. You never even graduated from high school.” Jessica said, “I was not going to have it. I was like, ‘Oh girl… I am NOT dumb, and I am going to prove it.”
She set out to do just that. Many years prior, Jessica had taken a pre-test for the GED and had missed passing it by two points. “I lost my confidence and never came back to take the real test,” she said. Now, intent to try again, she started taking preparatory classes at NPC for another round of taking the test. “I told myself, ‘You are not dumb. You can do this. Challenge accepted.”
On the day of the official test, she said, “I was a mess. I cried the whole way to Holbrook (where she had to take the test). I just knew I was going to fail. But then I told myself, ‘You’ve done hard things. Sometimes you just have to show up to fail. You have to show up even if you know you're not going to win.” She explained, “During the test, I was so nervous, I thought I was going to puke. Driving home, I bawled. I was on the phone, crying to my husband. He told me to pull over. To be safe,” she said. “Just then, I received a text and immediately started screaming.” This time, the hysterics were for a different reason. The text said, ‘Congratulations, you just earned your GED.’ She laughed, “I had passed!”
Reflecting on the moment, Jessica said, “That’s when I realized what I had accomplished. I had told myself I wasn’t going to come… that I wasn’t going to try because I knew with 150% certainty that I was going to fail. But instead, I set out determined to show up for my own failure,” she said. “Lo and behold, I passed!” She added, “It was from that moment on that I told my family, ‘No matter what happens, you have to show up. Because even if you think you will fail. You might not.” She said, “Either way, you win because you showed up for your failure. Showing up is the only way to learn.”
After completing her GED, Jessica was awarded a scholarship and was accepted into NPC’s Behavioral Health program. So far, she has maintained a 4.0 GPA in her studies.
After earning her GED and starting classes at NPC, something amazing happened. “All of a sudden, all the kids said, ‘I want to go too’.” She explained, “It was crazy, and I knew it would be hard, but I realized I was going to have to figure out a way to make it work.” She said, “I knew that at that moment they were motivated. They were asking, and even though it was going to be inconvenient, I knew that if I said ‘no,’ they were never going to ask again.”
With help from the Metallica Scholars Initiative and the support of NPC, she made it work.
Now, her husband Robert attends welding classes at night at NPC’s Holbrook campus along with their two teenage sons, Landon and Jordan. Landon and Jordan, who are still in high school, also take morning automotive classes at NPC’s Show Low campus. Their older sister, Serenity, is currently enrolled in NPC’s fire science program in Taylor. Their other sister, Cheyanne, is a full-time cosmetology student at NPC’s Show Low campus. Emma, who is still too young to be a Metallica Scholar, is also taking courses at NPC.
Together, the family manages an extremely complex, well-crafted schedule. They bustle from one campus to another (over a 250-mile radius) with the use of only one vehicle. “We have to work together, like the cogs of a wheel,” Jessica said. “We have to be there for each other because if something happens, it’s disastrous for us all.”
For Jessica, seeing her family excited about learning is worth all the chaos. “I am proud they are all sticking to their programs and are doing well in them,” she said. “They are building relationships with people and are really working hard. I need to see them succeed.” She explained, “There is so much stigma about big families and about how they are not successful and are just a drain on society.” She said, “It’s not true, but I do realize how not having an education can hold you back. I know how valuable finishing high school is,” she said. “Even if it kills me. Even if that’s all I can ever do for them, every one of my kids will graduate.” She said, “I will make sure they finish.”
The family loves Metallica’s music. Even more so, Jessica said, “Without the support of the Metallica Scholars Initiative, we simply wouldn’t be able to do this. There is no way on God’s green earth that I could ever afford to put my kids through college. Never, not even one of them,” she said. “NPC and the Metallica Scholars Initiative have allowed us to learn skilled trades, and given my kids, all of us, opportunities we wouldn’t otherwise have. Thank you, Metallica, and thank you, NPC.”
