‘Hard Work definitely pays off and results in opportunities” is the motto of SUNY Old Westbury student Larry Smith.
Larry Smith, a sophomore majoring in criminology and minoring in pre law, hopes to become an entertainment lawyer and study intellectual property. Larry explains that a lot of celebrities and activists need lawyers right now that can accurately represent them and argue on their behalf.
Smith grew up in the projects of South Jamaica, Queens. Life wasn’t always easy for Smith as he dealt with a lot of family issues. However, those issues motivated him to keep moving in life.
“Sometimes in life, it hits you with so many challenges that you have to face. You have to man up and say to yourself, yo, I’m here. I made it this far. I’m not gonna give up. A lot of people want to see me successful and those people who want to see me successful, I may not know who they are but they’re looking up to me. They could literally pray on my downfall. You never know. You just have to count your blessings and wishes because at the end of the day like I said, I never put a limit on myself. I feel like no one should put a limit on themselves.”
Smith is the first person in his family to graduate high school and go to college. His main goal is to be the first person in his family to finish college and earn his degree.
Last semester, Smith reopened and became President of The Black Student Union after the club was left in shambles and became inactive. He decided to reopen the club and make it available to everybody.The Black Student Union is a club on campus that caters to programming for African American students and the African American community here at Old Westbury however it is open to everyone regardless of race. Smith recruited members to the club by word of mouth .“When I picked it up [Black Student Union], we weren’t able to have a budget. It was that serious. We got a budget, but it was so low. I said you know what, this is small but I’m gonna make this go bigger than it is. With this small donation for BSU in our budget, I felt like I made the club go mobile. I made the club get into good representation in Old Westbury.”
As a result, BSU had their own programs including their Five Days of Melanin Program Week during the first week of February for Black History Month. One of the main events during the Five Days of Melanin Program, one that Smith was very proud to host was a discussion with Nicole Paultre Bell, the former fianceé of Sean Bell. Smith and the BSU decided to invite her to SUNY OW after reaching out to her on Instagram. He felt that it was the right time to discuss police brutality, while still honoring the life of Sean Bell a victim of police brutality, that resulted in his death.
Smith spoke about the many obstacles the BSU has faced. “You can be doing so much and something always comes in your way. When I was scheduling programs for BSU…there was some points where we just got scared like oh my god, something is not falling into place. Everything is not falling into place. God came through and he blessed my prayers because I couldn’t do this all by myself. That’s why I have a team. There’s no ‘I’ in team. At the end of the day, everybody comes up to me and says Larry you did it. You’re so amazing. You’ve done so much. My response is I don’t think I did it. I think we did it. We as BSU did it. Throughout all the falls and tribulations I have with my club,we did it. We did a good job today.” Smith values the sacrifices that everyone has made to aid this vision.
“My motivation through Black Student Union was a lot of people started to not forget where we’re from. Black Student Union has a culture. Supporting black businesses, black business expose, black panels, stuff we go into, police brutality.”
His hopes for the Black Student Union when he graduates from SUNY Old Westbury is that it will fall into the right hands of leadership and continue to grow to become 100 percent better. He gave advice on running a club like the Black Student Union. “It just goes to show that if you really want something, you work hard at it. You stick with it. A lot of people will doubt you. A lot of people will send for you. A lot of people will say ‘hey, he’s a bad president.’ You can’t just listen to those negative comments. You have to tune those comments out. You have to sit there and think of it ‘I really want the best for me. If I want the best for me, I’m gonna above and beyond. To make it happen, to make it work. I’m gonna figure it out. I’m going to just do what I got to do.”
Smith has been working on upcoming projects for the future such as networking with other well known people including celebrities that he wanted to invite to SUNY OW. He also wanted to learn how to make a documentary and do one on himself. “I just wanted do something so big and so mobile, that it can make a campus be happy. Like you know what, Larry Malcolm Smith left here and he was a kid who was in everything and he was a social activist for the school. He did his job. If he can do it, I can do it too.”
Since attending SUNY OW, he ran and won Homecoming Lord in his freshman year, served on five different committees of the SGA, participated with the OWTV in getting rid of the former Nathans, and being inducted in the NRHH which resulted in him winning a seven day trip to Arizona and Las Vegas to participate in the NRHH Conference. “I’ve always been the person that is looking for change. I’ve never given up on myself. I’ve never put a limit on myself. I’ve always say to myself you know what, this is the school that I got accepted to. It’s given me the most financial aid. It’s been given me so much blessings. Why don’t I take those things and run with it and that’s pretty much what I did. I’ve been trying for a long time and it just goes to show that you really want something, you work hard at it and eventually it will come around. That’s the quote that I always say to myself.” Smith went on to say “I’m not gonna give up. I would never give up. That’s not the type of person I am. I’m glad that I work hard for the things I did because I would never want something to be given to me on a silver platter.”
