West Columbia, SC woman lands on Forbes 30 under 30 list. Here’s what got her there.
Merrit Jones, 23, a native of West Columbia and senior at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, made the Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2021 in the education field.
The Forbes list features young innovators in different categories including sports, venture capital, music, healthcare and more. Jones was selected for her work with the national education advocacy group, Student Voice. Another S.C. native, 2020 WNBA MVP and University of South Carolina alumna, A’ja Wilson also made the list this year in the sports category.
Student Voice, a nationwide nonprofit organization, helps students use civic action to fight inequality, according to the organization’s website.
Jones created a consulting division for Student Voice that has partnered with Teach for America and Dell and raised $50,000 this year, according to Forbes.
Forbes says her work has involved more than 10,000 students in activism.
“I’m the kind of person who tries to push the work forward and doesn’t always get to take recognition, so this is different for me,” said Jones.
Jones said her inspiration for getting involved in Student Voice came after she moved from Lexington 2 school district to Lexington 1 in high school and saw the inequity between school systems in her county. After graduating from River Bluff High, Jones became motivated to help by the 2017 S.C. Supreme Court dismissal of a landmark case involving poor and rural schools.
The lawsuit involved more than 30 S.C. school districts suing the state in 1993, claiming lack of funding and resources to provide children with quality education.
“It was just kind of like a moment in South Carolina where people were really talking about inequity. I’d experienced it and seen it and I just got really fired up about it and just started asking questions, and meeting with anyone who would meet with me,” said Jones.
Her efforts led to interning with the S.C. Education Oversight Committee, working with the law firm Duff, White and Turner and meeting with former U.S. Secretary of Education and S.C. Gov. Richard “Dick” Riley.
“People were like sharing information with me, but nobody was talking to students and I really wanted to change that,” said Jones.
At UNC, Jones designed a major for herself that includes curriculum on education, public policy, sociology and identity. Throughout college, Jones has worked full-time as a consultant on top of taking classes.
“I’ve worked more this year than I ever have before, so that looked like 40 to 80 hour work weeks outside of the classroom,” said Jones.
After graduation, Jones said she sees herself moving to Washington D.C. to continue aiding in education reform.
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 4:20 PM.