The BELIEVE Academy focuses their efforts every day on the future of the health care field in St. Louis by preparing high schoolers for careers alongside partners at BJC Health.
But for BELIEVE educator Jasmyne Clay-Griffin, the mission of the school is also a celebration of her own family history. It was a story she recently shared with Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing Population Health students, who were on-site at BELIEVE working with their students.
Jasmyne says her work at BELIEVE Academy helps her memorialize her great-grandmother, Ruth Robinson Harris, a nurse at Jewish Hospital. Jasmyne describes her great-grandmother not only as a registered nurse, but as the matriarch of her family who left a lasting legacy.
“What I remember most about my great-grandmother is that she was an upstanding woman,” says Jasmyne. “She was a beautiful, poised woman who carried herself very well. Growing up with her, having my great-grandmother in my life, was a big deal.”
Reflecting on Ruth, Jasmyne realizes now that she wasn’t just a leader in their family, but a model for all nurses. “She was a nurturing person,” Jasmyne says. “I saw that in the way she presented herself, and I think it’s because of the type of work she was doing. But to be a great person, to nurture people, to take care of our family, and to be this super sweet woman and overall great person, I watched her and learned from her.”
Jasmyne says she hopes to channel Ruth’s spirit in her work at the BELIEVE Academy, encouraging students toward health care careers and caring for their families. But she also says that she hopes BELIEVE Academy students and GSON future nurses alike remember that nursing is sharing good health practices and service in their communities.
“Part of her that resonates with me is that as long as she could, she gave back to her community and to other people,” says Jasmyne. “Just knowing that while you have the knowledge to share as much of it as you can with as many as you can. Like my great-grandmother and what she poured into me, I can pour it into my students and into our community.”
Learn more about BJC’s partnership with BELIEVE Academy.