Ferris High School: Za’Kayla Jones looks forward to continuing her work helping teenagers

Za’Kayla Jones hopes to return someday to Ferris High School and repay the school that has given her so much.

Then again, she already has.

In addition to her other activities at Ferris, the graduating senior is a charter member of the school’s Hope Squad, which works to help prevent teen suicide.

“There are some students who are going through some tough times,” said Jones, who has dealt firsthand with some of them at Ferris .

“I had a student come up to me and said she was suicidal and self-harming,” Jones said.

The student was referred to the Hope Squad advisers, who in turn worked with Ferris counselors. Eventually, the student was referred to a clinic.

The student later approached Jones and “told me ‘Thank you so much,’ ” Jones said.

Ferris administrators, too, are grateful for Jones , Assistant Principal Andrew Lewis said.

“She has made a huge positive impact on our school that will outlast her time with us,” Lewis said. “And our greatest hope is that one day she will come back to work with us and keep making Ferris a better place for everyone.”

After a tough start, Jones has made the most of her five years in Spokane. She’s on the Ferris track team, but her first love is choral music.

“I love singing choir,” said Jones, who has performed at Ferris with the Canterbury Belles and in Symphonic Choir. “And I love singing solo but also the group. I also like to dance.”

However, Spokane initially struck a bad chord with Jones, who is Black, after she moved from New Jersey as an eighth-grader with her mother and two younger siblings.

“I’ve experienced a lot of racism,” Jones said. “When I’m going out with friends or doing something in public, I’ve had people say things to me.”

The experiences were difficult. “I’ve had to work through that, but I’m only 17, so it’s hard,” Jones said. “All my struggles have been around race.”

However, Jones has reacted with maturity far beyond her years.

“I would say to people, ‘Just educate yourself.’ The reason people do or say certain things, is that they are not educated,” said Jones, who also is a member of the Black Student Union at Ferris.

Jones points out that not only Blacks, but Asian Americans, Hispanics and Pacific Islanders also “have made America.”

Jones plans to attend Eastern Washington University this fall and major in psychology. Her goal is to be a school counselor and fulfill her goal of educating others.

“I want to be the support, and be that faculty that kids can come to,” Jones said. “I want to be the person that some of the people at Ferris were for me.”