After Langston: Life Beyond The Yard

At Langston University it is often said that if you can make it here you can make it anywhere. These 3 interviews from graduating seniors on how Langston has prepared them for life beyond the yard. Each students shared their experiences on how Langston shaped them to be the person that they’ve become now. Their perspectives highlight that Langston is more than a university; it is a training ground for resilience, leadership and purpose.

First I spoke with Na’Em Smith, a senior accounting major from Lewisville, Texas. Smith is also a spring 25 initiate of the Beta Epsilon chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated. When I asked Smith, what’s one lesson school taught him that he will carry into the real world he said “If you want to do it and you put your mind to it there’s no way you fail just gotta try again.”

I asked Smith what achievement he was most proud of he stated “I’m gonna be the most proud of graduating that’s the biggest achievement for me it’s gonna be graduating right now, I would say that it only took me four years I didn’t have to take no extra time and I felt that’s a big achievement because I didn’t waste no money.“

Smith said his fraternity brothers and his football team were the group of people who helped him to get to this point. “I mean shout out to the Sigmas, but I would also like to say the football team really got me through because there was a lot of days where I didn’t want to go do anything and I knew I was like damn, I gotta go football I gotta show up and then I made a lot of friends through that too and I would also say Gents, Gents was a great opportunity just to get to know like a lot of new people.”

Beta Epsilon President Na’Em Smith

Then I talked to Jasilyn Spivey, a senior majoring in broadcast journalism from Lawton, Oklahoma. When I asked Spivey what moment she would miss the most from her time at Langston, she said ‘Being elected the student government association vice president like getting to put in the work and be behind the scenes it has been one of the most fulfilling roles I’ve had on campus.”

Spivey said the person who made the biggest impact at her time at Langston was Savontez Collins. “He’s been my day one best friend since the first week of school honestly my freshman year he was always there he always pushes me to do better and be better honestly without him I don’t know what I would be doing out here.”

When I asked Spivey what other achievements she was proud of she said “Starting up the LU athletic social media team broadcasting and being all that with Kyle Taylor like that’s been my home for the past four years I started when I was a freshman I absolutely love them and that’s one of the proudest.”

SGA Vice President Jasilyn Spivey

Lastly I spoke with Elijah Clark, a senior crop and soil science major from Houston, Texas. Clark is a spring 25 initiate of the Beta Kappa chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated. I asked Clark what was the biggest challenge he had faced at Langston he said” So my sophomore year going into the spring semester, I had a bill that I had to cover and even with scholarships and financial aid my bill wasn’t fully covered and so how I tackled it I had to you know go to family I’d ask around and see if I can get some help and luckily with the loving family I have I was able to cover my bill and so knowing now that I had to go to through that problem I made sure for the rest of my time at Langston University I was gonna apply myself to more scholarships so that way I can get the time to have more help.”

Clark stated that Dr. Abraham was the person who had the biggest impact on his time here at Langston “Even in my major which is agriculture a crop and soil science major Dr. Abraham still took a chance on me not being a biology major because he’s in the biology department and he still helped me get my internship you know and he actually helped me get to conferences where I got to present my research and you know I might’ve not met all the qualifications, but he still took a chance on me because he knew that I was a hard worker.”

SGA Food Committee Chair Elijah Clark

As these students finish their journeys at Langston University, their experiences reflect more than individual success stories. They illustrate a shared belief, rooted in the campus culture, perseverance, adaptability, and that community is built here every day. The common saying if you can make it at Langston, you can make it anywhere is not just tradition but a lived reality for those to walk in those halls. Through their voices it is clear that Langston is not only preparing students for graduation but for life beyond it.