Jonathan Jackson's love of people has driven him to set an example he hopes others will follow.
Jackson is the first Lincoln University student liaison to the Jefferson City Council. The position was something Mayor Carrie Tergin had campaigned on and Jackson took on the role in early July. He said he had heard about Tergin's idea and contacted her through Facebook to express his interest.
For Jackson, the role is an opportunity to get students more involved in the community, and get the community more involved with Lincoln.
"Lincoln's had a reputation in Jefferson City for a while now," Jackson said. "I really want to show them and teach them ... that these students are something great."
Jackson said becoming the student liaison allows him to take that attitude outside of university affairs and allows him to go into the community and promote shared interests. He noted specifically looking to assist Lincoln University graduates in finding jobs locally to stay within the community.
"I'm excited because I'm able to do so much more now," Jackson said.
And in being the first student liaison, Jackson said he also gets to shape the role to what he thinks it should be and be the standard for those who follow. Jackson said he looked to the upperclassmen at Lincoln to set an example when he was a student and now he gets to do that for new students.
Jackson plans on graduating in May with a degree in business marketing, but he plans on furthering his education even more, including plans for two master's degrees and a doctorate.
Jackson wasn't always this motivated when it came to his education. He originally came to Lincoln as a freshman in 2009 and though he loved the university, he said he got too involved in extra-curricular activities like being on the freshman council. He said he didn't focus enough on his studies and was suspended for a semester, but that time off grew to two and half years.
During that time, Jackson went back to Kansas City and worked. He said he eventually realized he didn't want to live paycheck to paycheck forever and began to think about going back to school.
When he decided to go back to school, Jackson said it was no question he would return to Lincoln, recalling the words a university alumna said to him his freshman year.
""When you get to Lincoln University, you're like that lump of coal. By the time you're done with Lincoln, you'll go through so many things that will cut you, scrape you, press you and pull you, and by the time you get finished, you're going to be pressed into that diamond you were meant to be.' Those words have stuck with me," Jackson said. "I had to come back ... I love my university."
He returned to Lincoln in 2013 and has studied hard ever since, taking classes through fall, spring and summer semesters in order to graduate by the time he's 25.
Jackson said when he graduates, he'll be one of the few males in his family with a college degree, though he noted his younger family members are all pursuing degrees now. When he talks about his family, he highlights the strong women who raised him, especially his mother, who he maintains a close relationship with.
Jackson lost his father just before his second birthday. A stray bullet entered their home, killing his father and leaving his young mother to raise him.
"She is one of the strongest women, in my book, in the world," Jackson said. "She truly, truly raised me."