Like a true Gamecock, when it comes to our Campus Celebrity this week, there are no limits. Jerica Knox is passionate about helping at-risk youth, and her involvement in the community proves it. She is the president of Together We Rise: USC Chapter and is a junior experimental psychology major.
What is “Together We Rise?”
Together We Rise is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide normalcy for foster children. We do different things with our local foster children and provide materials to local children’s shelters. Recently, we gave a local children’s shelter Halloween gifts. It was really fun. We decorated cards and packed goody bags to give to them.
Why did you join Together We Rise?
My freshman year, I came across an advertisement that a girl posted about how she wanted to start a chapter here at USC. I immediately became interested because 1) part of my career goal is to work with at-risk youth and provide them with tools to succeed in the future and 2) I could be a founder of a student organization on campus — how cool is that?! I helped the girl, Courtney, and gathered some friends so we could build a constitution and get certified as an official on-campus organization. I ended up being Vice President and am now currently President of our chapter.
Besides Together We Rise, what other activities are you involved in?
Besides Together We Rise: USC Chapter, I participate in many organizations and activities. I have participated in undergraduate research since my sophomore year, and I absolutely love it! I am a research assistant for two research labs, one that looks at the social and moral development of children and one that looks at African-American parenting and how it promotes positive youth development in their children. I am also a Ronald E. McNair Scholar, which is a research program for underrepresented populations pursuing graduate studies. Besides at-risk youth, I have a passion for mental health awareness and suicide prevention, specifically. I am a trained and certified volunteer crisis intervention specialist and I volunteer for a non-profit crisis hotline. I also serve on the JED Foundation’s Student Advisory Council. The JED Foundation is a mental health awareness non-profit.
What made you interested in mental health awareness?
That’s a great question, and my answer is all over the place. To sum it up, I guess it has always been an interest of mine, I just never realized it until I started volunteering for IMAlive, the crisis hotline. A combination of the experiences in my life have been brought to my attention through research, and I realized that mental health is something I’ve been passionate about all along. It started with my low self-esteem growing up, and when I finally learned to love myself, I grew a need to instill self-love in others. The crisis hotline just brought about suicide prevention, and then later, other parts of mental health awareness that I now advocate for.
Since you have so many obligations, how do you motivate yourself to accomplish everything?
Excellent question because it seems like I have to give myself motivational speeches everyday to get through this semester — it’s been ROUGH! I’m a very self-motivated person, so I definitely use that to my advantage. I believe in myself, and when you know you have this amazing potential inside, you can’t help but continue to motivate yourself everyday. I go by a quote, “the only person you are in competition with is yourself,” and it basically answers this question. I’m in competition with myself. So, when I notice that I’m slacking or tired of all of the things I am doing, this extra boost of motivation just comes out of nowhere, and I tell myself that I am not done yet. I tell myself that I’m capable of more and I step up to the challenge every time. So, I do what I have to do to keep going — whether it is a 5 minute break to relax, or dancing in the mirror. Dancing in the mirror and listening to music gets me going every time. I’d say when I’m not motivating myself, music is.
What are your favorite songs to listen to get you through the day?
Well I really don’t have favorite songs, but I listen to early-00s Hip-Hop and R&B everyday. Other people are embarrassed to say they still “crank that Soulja boy” on a regular basis, but I’m sure not. I like fun, upbeat hip-hop and R&B like Chris Brown. Then there are those mornings when I’m half asleep and only thing that will get me through the day is listening to “trap music.”