ORANGE PARK \u2013 With every word, Jayla Vaughn seemed to gain a little more confidence and control. Her words started sheepish and bashful, but as the audience at the Pace Center for Girls\u2019 Believing in Girls luncheon applauded her amazing accomplishments, she gained the confidence to look up to something completely out of character.<\/p>\n
She smiled.<\/p>\n
Like so many, Pace Executive Director Genelle Thomas and her staff refused to allow Jayla to become another forgotten soul in a society with too many girls that have fallen through the cracks and are left behind.<\/p>\n
Like so many, Jayla was empowered at Pace. She will graduate next month, knowing a productive future awaits.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year, I am graduating with a 2.7 GPA,\u201d she said firmly and proudly. \u201cThat number might not mean much to some people, but to me, it means everything. It represents every late night, every hard conversation, every time I chose to keep going instead of quitting. It represents growth. It represents resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt represents a girl who once thought she wasn’t smart enough, proving herself wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Believing in Girls luncheon was a fundraiser for the nonprofit organization \u201cwhere middle and high school girls find the support, guidance and resources they need to thrive. Our programs offer a\u00a0full academic school day\u00a0and\u00a0comprehensive mental health support, tailored to meet the unique needs of each girl. Whether she’s looking for a fresh start in school or additional social and emotional support, Pace provides a safe environment with the tools to help her succeed \u2014 both in school and in life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The luncheon was filled with emotional and inspiring stories of success from students and community leaders like keynote speaker Sheriff Michelle Cook, who ended her comments with a tearful story of a \u201cyoung girl\u201d who grew up wanting to be in law enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cI must hesitate that I struggled if I was going to share the story, but I was encouraged by others to do so and it’s important and I don’t want to skip it,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to talk to you about another young lady from Clay County.<\/p>\n
\u201cI won’t tell you what year she graduated, but I will tell you it was more than 10 years ago and less than 50. She decided soon after school that she wanted to go be a police officer, and she was told she couldn’t do it. She was told she was too little, too sick, and she was a girl and that she would never ever make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sheriff stopped to fight her own emotions, pressing her lips and eyes tight to fight back tears.<\/p>\n
\u201cUndaunted, this young police officer moved up through the ranks, earning the right to lead as she gained experience which she never gave up. After a successful career with a large agency, she moved to a smaller agency where she became the chief of police. After having the privilege of leading the men and women in that department, she found her way back home and endured a tough political fight to become sheriff.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the wins and struggles of leading others, she never retired of serving others, and just a few weeks ago, this young girl, who’s now a middle-aged woman, middle-age-ish, who once walked the halls of a local high school, stepped up to the podium and shook the hand of the President of the United States and gave a speech at the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jayla was given the tools to accomplish success by Pace and Mercy Support Services, which provided house parents, Mary Joy and Tony Fiore.<\/p>\n
There she learned to fish and enjoy Jacksonville Jaguars games. But more significantly, she learned structure and purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was 17 years old when I came to Pace,\u201d Jayla said. \u201cBefore that, I hadn’t been in school for almost two years. I was only at my previous school for a little while, and eventually I just stopped going. I felt embarrassed, ashamed and like I didn’t belong anywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cI struggled in the community and was performing at an elementary level. I didn’t think I was smart. I didn’t think I was capable, and I didn’t think I would even graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fiores have been house parents to other children. Jayla presented a unique set of challenges, but she responded to their guidelines. And love.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the big smile at the very end,\u201d Mary Joy said. \u201cShe finally smiled at me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stacey Letson, another graduate-to-be, spoke about overcoming anxiety, mental health issues and having a child as a sophomore, entering Pace\u2019s REACH Program and committing to remaining in school. She will graduate from Orange Park High after being a cheerleader and a member of the chorus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I graduate, I plan to attend St. John’s River State College to become an ultrasound technician,\u201d Stacey said. \u201cI chose this career because when I was pregnant, seeing my baby in the ultrasound made me so happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to be a part of other women’s journeys when they are pregnant. The biggest thing I’ve learned from PACE is we all have our struggles. People don’t always see, but we are standing here today because we didn’t give up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas was joined by Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith to reveal Pace will expand its REACH mental health program to Bradford County.<\/p>\n
Abbie Velasquez also talked about her daughter\u2019s amazing transformation, saying her daughter, Mariah, struggled \u201cin deeper ways with self-harm, poor choices, the wrong influences.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a mom, there’s nothing that prepares you for that,\u201d Abbie said. \u201cThere’s no manual, just this overwhelming feeling of wanting to fix it and not knowing how to do it. I said I need to fix this, so I started searching, looking for anything that could help, and I came across Pace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pace honored Clay Builders Council of Northeast Florida Builders Association, Kim Morris\u2019 Vibrant Communities grant-making initiative and Mercy Support Services with its 2026 Believing in Girls awards.<\/p>\n
For more information on Pace Center for Girls, or to donate, visit pacecenter.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE PARK \u2013 With every word, Jayla Vaughn seemed to gain a little more confidence and control. Her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3496,3487,3495,3498,3488,3493,116,118,117,3492,3494,3499,3490,3489,3497,3491],"class_list":["post-252674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-argyle","tag-clay-county","tag-doctors-inlet","tag-eagle-harbor","tag-fleming-island","tag-green-cove-springs","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-keystone-heights","tag-lake-asbury","tag-margaret","tag-middleburg","tag-orange-park","tag-pace-island","tag-penney-farms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}