Jasmine Hill of Students First! builds unity in diversity
By Nicholas Greitzer
May 2, 2010 9:10 p.m.
Jasmine Hill’s destiny has always been to unite people.
“Jasmine was a little girl, maybe 3 years old,” Cynthia Carter said of the moment she realized her daughter’s mission. “She just walked into the room and said, “˜People, people, people of the world.’ It was almost a prophetic statement.”
Hill’s grandmother echoed Carter’s characterization of Hill as a unifier and leader.
“She has been very dedicated, even from her childhood,” said Hazel Carter, describing how Hill would take charge when she and her cousins played as children.
Having run unsuccessfully for General Representative last year, it is this desire to change others’ lives that drew Hill to pursue the Undergraduate Students Association Council office of the president as a Students First! candidate.
Hill has served as the chief of staff for current USAC President Cinthia Flores for the past year, and oversaw the Bruin Initiative Internship program, which allows transfer and first-year students to be placed directly into council offices, Blue and Gold service certification, financial advocacy and sustainability. She was also highly involved during the protests that followed the November fee increase.
“The dust has settled from the dramatic fee increase, and UCLA students need someone to step up and be that person to have discussions on their behalf,” she said. “I feel fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.”
Hill is heavily involved on campus and considers her greatest commitments to be to the Afrikan Student Union and campus tours.
“(Campus Tours) are a great experience that allow you to learn everything about UCLA,” Hill said. “Most importantly though, I like the people and interacting with the families.”
As a staff member for Afrikan Student Union, Hill participated in outreach to black students in West L.A. to improve representation at UCLA.
“People need to be inspired,” she said. “I think that for me, it is about all the possibilities and all of the things we can do. I want to bring that message to the people.”
In high school, Hill pursued performing arts and began connecting with others by working the phones for her father, a public relations executive, and her mother, a public speaker involved with hospice and community education.
In her last years at St. Mary’s College High School though, Hill merged her passions for performance and communication by creating “Bust,” an open mike forum for student expression. “Bust” began as a space for students to perform original compositions in poetry and song, but evolved into a place for students and outside speakers to talk about issues, no matter how controversial.
“Although Jasmine is outspoken, she communicates in a constructive manner that promotes dialogue,” said Herman Shum, vice principal of St. Mary’s College High School. “Jasmine is a leader with initiative.”
Hill’s ability to promote communication extended to UCLA as a peer facilitator for the Student Affairs Intergroup Dialogue Program, a 10-week course that allows students to examine difficult issues such as homophobia and racism in an attempt to raise awareness and knowledge of social diversity and justice.
With a platform centering on reform to the UC Board of Regents, moratoriums on fee increases and the advancement of Chancellor Gene Block’s community service initiative, Hill sees her candidacy as the fulfillment of her childhood saying, “People, people, people of the world.”
“We need for campus to come together, to understand that we are not the same but that there is unity in diversity,” Hill said. “It is all about student power and being a vessel for that power in whatever form it takes.”
