Mya Smith-Reynolds

11th Grade Student, TECH Freire
Dual Enrollment Student, Temple University

On a Wednesday afternoon in North Philadelphia, Mya Smith-Reynolds sits quietly in the front row of a college classroom, eyes fixed on the light of a film shown at the front of the room. Around her, Temple University students, most of them years older, watch in the same silence. The film is District 9, a 2009 sci-fi allegory about apartheid, xenophobia, and displacement. The professor discusses how the aliens in the film represent South African refugees, but Mya is thinking about something else: how stories, even the strangest ones, always circle back to humanity.

“Every movie we watch,” she says, “is about something real. Like, you realize people actually live through this stuff. It’s not just a movie.”

Mya is an eleventh grade student at TECH Freire Charter High School, where she has built a reputation as someone who can do it all: cheerleader, musician, peer mediator, and Honors student. But this year, her academic journey has taken on new dimensions through Freire’s dual-enrollment partnership (B4USoar) with Temple, which allows high school students to earn college credit by taking university-level courses. For Mya, that means commuting to Temple twice per week for Race and Ethnicity in the Cinematic Arts, a course that challenges students to explore how film reflects and shapes identity. Next semester, she’s already registered for World Music and Cultures, continuing her college journey before even finishing high school. 

“It’s kind of crazy,” she says. “I never thought I’d be taking college classes this early, but now I feel like I can handle it.”

At Temple, Mya is one of only a few high school students in her class. The adjustment wasn’t easy at first. “When I went to my first class, I was scared,” she admits. “I didn’t know where to go, it was so quiet, and everyone just minded their own business. I almost didn’t have a seat!” But slowly, the classroom started to feel familiar. “One day my professor called me by name, and I was like, ‘you know who I am?’ That was the moment I stopped feeling like I didn’t belong.”

In person, Mya is warm and animated, the kind of student who can pivot from deep reflection to laughter in seconds. What captivates her most about her college course is the power behind the camera, the why of storytelling. 

“Almost every filmmaker we learn about,” she explains, “made their movie because of something that happened in real life, something sad or unfair they wanted to expose. They wanted people to see what’s really going on. So, in class, we talk about different stories and the ways we see ourselves in the people on the screen. And we also talk about topics that are relevant today, like discrimination and corporate exploitation.”

Back at TECH, the quiet of the college classroom gives way to a different kind of energy: laughter in the hallways, music from the studio, the buzz of machines in the Makerspaces, and the constant hum of conversation. It’s an environment Mya describes as “loud, but comforting.” With a full Honors courseload, Mya’s teachers know her well and push her to give her best effort, never letting her settle for “good enough.” Her classmates, meanwhile, keep her competitive. “Right now I’m number two in my class,” she says. “My close friend is number one. So, yeah, we push each other a lot.”

That healthy competition, paired with the school’s tight-knit atmosphere, has helped Mya thrive. “Everybody knows each other,” she says. “You can always find help here, whether it’s from a teacher or another student.” In fact, every afternoon, Mya and a small circle of friends gather in their former teachers Mr. Tino and Mr. Joe’s room for what they call the “Best Friends Crew.” There’s no official agenda, just time to talk, decompress, and share the highs and lows of their day before heading home. “It’s our thing,” Mya says. “We’ve been doing it since ninth grade. We just sit together, laugh, and say something nice about each other to end the day. It makes school feel like family.”

She still remembers what it felt like to arrive at TECH three years ago—shy, uncertain, hoping to find a few new friends. Now she’s leading cheers, running meetings, and volunteering to speak at open houses and school board gatherings. “I used to be scared to talk in front of people,” she says. “But now I just go for it.”

Mya’s ambitions stretch far beyond high school. She dreams of studying at NYU, UCLA, or perhaps at a conservatory where she can skip straight into acting and filmmaking. She’s even torn between two worlds: the arts and veterinary science. “Sometimes I think I want to be a vet,” she says. “But I also want to make movies that make people feel something.”

For now, she’s content to keep learning, observing, analyzing, and telling stories that matter. And if her Temple class has taught her anything, it’s that stories, like people, are never one-dimensional.

“When I watch movies now,” she says, “I can’t just watch them. I have to analyze them. I start thinking about who made it and what they were trying to say. It’s like I can’t turn that part of my brain off anymore.”

At TECH Freire, Mya has found a space that values curiosity and creativity in equal measure, a place where college prep means more than applications and transcripts. It means preparing students to tell their own stories, to speak up, and to create. Mya’s just getting started, and at TECH Freire, her future is coming into focus, one frame at a time.