Mayka West Thrives in School
“I knew I wanted to attend an HBCU (Historically Black College and University),” Makya West, who goes by Kya, told me about her college choice, Fort Valley State University (FVSU).
It is important to Kya to be a part of at- tending a HBCU, a college or university that was originally founded to educate students of African American descent. Her cousin Sonya Brooks graduated from FVSU and several other family members have attended other HBCU schools.
For Kya, attending an HBCU school is about a family history of attending HBCU schools and about learning and exploring her own heritage and history. Add that to FVSU’s science degree program and Kya’s found a good fit at FVSU.
Kya, a Jasper County High School (JCHS) 2020 graduate, admits it will be hard to leave home, if even for a college that is only 67 miles from her hometown of Monticello. “It will be difficult. I’ve been with my mom so long,” Kya shared. Mom is Toy Smith, MSN, RN, born and raised in the area and a graduate of Georgia College and State University, who for 20 years has worked at the Monticello Dialysis Center, and for the last 18 years as the Center’s Group Facility Administrator.
Excited for her graduation from JCHS, now scheduled for July 24 at the high school, Kya described her time at JCHS as amazing.
“School is very fun and they care about you, also,”she said. In fact, it is Mrs. Elizabeth Proctor’s BioTechnology class and Kya’s participation in the school’s STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) club that led her to FVSU to a science major in BioTechnology with a possible future as a veterinarian. “She’s great. She’s amazing,” Kya said of Mrs. Proctor.
Another inspirational teacher, described by Kya as “amazing and very loving” is Ms. Lianna Nix. She’s the Tops Kya told me, with obvious admiration and appreciation for the support Ms. Nix has provided her and her fellow students throughout high school.
Since the fifth grade, Kya has played basketball, playing all through high school for the Lady Hurricanes. In addition to basketball, she was also on the track team, her specialties being the 100 meter and the 4×1 relay. She loves the competitiveness of team sports and in track she appreciated both the importance of being on a team and of individual responsibility.
It was because of a JCHS 2020 senior yard sign, with a picture of Kya wearing her number 10 Hurricanes basketball jersey that I found Kya. Riding through her neighborhood, I stopped when I saw her JCHS Senior 2020 yard sign proudly displayed in her front yard. Seeing her father, Ian West, outside, I stopped and he and Kya’s mom connected me with Kya.
Kya hopes to transition from a Monticello Hurricane to an FVSU Wildcat, possibly running track and hopefully being on Fort Valley State’s Dancing Divas marching band’s dance and majorette team. Her majorette skills have been honed by participating and performing in dancing at her church and being on a dance team coached and mentored by Monticello native Quintara Standifer. She also plays the piano and the flute, was in the Jasper Middle School band and sings at her church.
Church for Kya is Word Alive Ministries, whose pastor Marquette Brooks also happens to be Kya’s aunt. Kya’s aunt and grandmother Inez Brooks both live in Monticello, offering her built in family support.
In addition to basketball, track and Steam club, Kya was a member of the FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders), the FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America), a senior class representative and a member of the Leading Ladies club, an organization for girls and young women to talk, meet, go out, mentor each other and overall support one another, led by another Monticello native Ms. Maxine Standifer.
4-H has also been important to Kya, starting as a Cloverleaf in the fifth grade. Ms. Kasey Reid Hall, the Jasper County Cooperative Extension Coordinator, has been instrumental in Kya’s 4-H endeavors which have included summer camps, the Cotton Bowl team, poetry judging and other activities.
Planning on attending prom with her high school boyfriend, Odalyus Thurman, himself a JCHS 2020 senior and a Monticello Hurricane, Kya has purchased her prom dress and Odalyus recently rented his tuxedo for the dance. Kya, wanting to add her own personal flair to her dress, bought her prom dress online then took it to Ms. Tina Cobb of Monticello to not only alter her dress but to also “change” it so that it fits Kya’s personality.
Kya describes herself as very outgoing, kind, one who cares a lot about other people, and cool, calm and laid back, and she thinks her friends and family would describe her as the same. She describes living in Monticello as pretty much the same—calm, very cool, very laid back, pleasant and no violence.
As for 2020, Kya is still hopeful and excited, despite the coronavirus and abrupt end to onsite classes during her senior year of high school. Turning 18 in February, Kya is enthusiastic and excited, exclaiming, “I get to have a graduation and I get to vote.”
