Black History Month: Renee Jones

JACKSON, Tenn. — “You may not start out the way you want to, but you can end the way you want to,” Boys and Girls Club resource development and financial administrator Renee Jones said.

Renee Jones grew up in historic east Jackson with her mom and two siblings.

Jones says her mom taught them three things.

“There are no excuses,” Jones said. “We also understood we were going to go to college. We were going to get some type of education, and finally, she wanted us to be better than she was.”

She went to South Side High School and one day she was asked to give a speech at Junior Rotarian meeting. Her topic was chemical reactions.

“In the chemical reactions, I shared a smile is just like a chemical reaction. I smile at you, you smile at me and it just goes across the room,” Jones said.

During that meeting she met Dr. David Dockery, who was Union University president at the time.

It started her on her 20 year path at school, first as a student, then as a worker at Vocatio Center for Life Calling and Career at Union.

“I was stretched. I was outside of my comfort zone. I didn’t have all the answers, but I knew this: I knew if I was there, then it was necessary,” she said.

She also received the G.M. Savage Legacy Award for Christian Education in 2016 while working at Union.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in computer science, an MBA and is working on her doctorate, all from Union.

And for the past six months Jones has been working at the Boys and Girls Club, where she shares her knowledge, experience and passion with a whole new generation of students.

She doesn’t always get to work face-to-face with the kids, but she’s still making sure she is making an impact on them.

“I personally believe every person is a gift. Every person. And however we handle that gift, that’s what we’re going to unwrap, and we want to unwrap greatness,” Jones said.

And she says representation is important.

“She looks like me, she looks like someone in my family. Oh, so if she did it, I can do it,” Jones said.

She says she was a latchkey kid growing up, so she loves that the Boys and Girls Club is offering a consistent place for kids to come to get a hot meal, make friends and be challenged academically.

“I need everybody to know, you’re necessary. The world needs you, and if you think about Marian Williamson’s poem. It’s important for you to shine, so you give everyone else permission to shine too,” she said.

Jones says as long as you have the right people placed in your path, you’ll end up exactly where you are supposed to be.