Every year, Antilles School inducts members into the National Honor Society (NHS) and the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), the nation’s premier organizations established to recognize outstanding high school and middle school students. On Thursday, May 2, Antilles inducted 78 students into the organizations in a formal ceremony at Prior-Jollek Hall.
This year’s ceremony was extra special because it included a keynote speech by Dr. Elenoe "Crew" Smith, a 2002 Antilles School alumna, a post-doctoral research Fellow of the National Institutes of Health at Boston’s Children’s Hospital Division of Hematology and Oncology, and a Fellow at Harvard Medical School. Once a member of Antilles School Chapter of the National Honor Society herself, Smith provided the young members an example of what is possible with hard work academically combined with a personal vision of what one wants to contribute to the world.
Smith left Antilles and the Virgin Islands to attend Princeton University, and then she entered a doctoral program in cell biology at Yale on a full scholarship. Her main interest was in cell research centers about sickle cell disease, which she originally learned about in science class at Antilles. Now she is headed towards being on the forefront of unlocking the mystery of the disease. Her doctoral research was published in the February 2013 issue of Blood, a scientific research journal.
During her speech, Smith addressed how the V.I. community played a key role in her success. She challenged the students to "commit to our community," calling the V.I. her home, regardless of where she may be living. "We cannot expect the community to be better, unless we are better." She encouraged the students to strive to be servants of the community in many different ways and to dispel the notion that community service is degrading. She recounted her own community service contributions while in high school, stating that while serving, she also learned much from those she was serving. She stressed the importance to "really try to help the people of this community."
Smith also spoke of the lessons she has learned about the importance of diversity. She urged the students to "take advantage to learn from as many different kinds of people as possible" and said that embracing the myriad diversity of people is an important strength that will ignite academic opportunities and excellence.
Dr. Elenoe "Crew" Smith is the daughter of Dr. Henry and Peggy Smith.
