When Jared Smith was bicycling through the Loire Valley in France this spring, he stopped to take a picture of an old turret by the roadside. His European companions didn’t give it a second glance. Such markers of the past are common in Europe, but noteworthy to a Canadian with a passion for history.

Smith, an Acadia history student interested in French, has just finished a year as an exchange student at the University of Tours. The 800-kilometre bicycle trip, completed in two four-day stints, was one of the opportunities he seized while there.

Born and raised in Coldbrook, Nova Scotia, Smith attended King’s-Edgehill School in Windsor before coming to Acadia. “At the beginning of my third year, I said, ‘Wow, it’s not even that I haven’t left the province. I’m having trouble leaving the Valley,’” he says now with a laugh.

He came home changed by the experience and fluent in French. “It was my first time out of Canada for longer than two weeks. To jump from two weeks to a year was life-changing,” he says. “I really got my legs in life. I feel independent.”

His determination and accomplishments would be remarkable for anyone. But Smith is also living with the effects of a car accident in 2007 that took his brother’s life and left him with a severe brain injury. For many people, such an event might be the defining moment that determines the rest of their lives.

When you meet Jared Smith, however, you discover that he’s creating his own defining moments.

Acadia’s support services

Before entering Acadia in 2009, Smith introduced himself to Jill Davies, a Counsellor for Disability Access with the Student Resource Centre (http://counsel.acadiau.ca/). He wanted to know what support services were available in case he needed them.

“I would say, even though he has had accommodations through us on occasion, he has been a stellar student from the minute he got here,” Davies says. “He was a good student before the accident, and he’s a good student now.”

One accommodation Acadia offered Smith was an extra hour to write exams. The activity of writing takes him longer than it used to. The injury paralyzed his right side, and he had to learn to move it again. His thought processes were affected, too.

“My mom likes to say that I still get to the right answer, it just takes me a little longer to get there,” he says. “I’m still as smart as I was, but it’s nice to have that extra bit of time. It allows me to think more clearly, and I can actually show what I know.”

History with a co-op twist

Since Smith wanted to be a historian, Davies connected him with Dr. David Duke in the Department of History and Classics (http://history.acadiau.ca/). Duke was also Jared’s first teacher at Acadia.

“From the moment I met him, I was impressed by his determination and guts,” Duke says. “Watching him improve has been a great joy for me, because he knew that coming to Acadia might be a bold experiment that ultimately might not work. Instead, what we have is a genuinely inspirational and remarkable young man.”

Smith chose Acadia because it offered co-op education to Arts students as well as those in the sciences and business. He praises Shelley McMullin in the Co-operative Education program (http://co-op.acadiau.ca/) as a great advocate and supporter.

“My favourite work term was when I worked at the New Brunswick Museum,” Smith says. “I had an amazing time.” That’s where he discovered he enjoys presenting history to the public. He consulted Duke about future options, and Duke suggested he look at public history for a master’s degree.

“I think that Acadia is such a wonderful place to grow and to develop and succeed,” Smith says. “You’re not just a student number. You are a person, you matter, and you’re worth having a conversation with. You’re worth helping.” Duke became not only an academic mentor, but a life mentor as well, Smith adds.

Smith learned French as a way to distinguish himself from other history graduates in the marketplace. He enjoyed French culture and is considering further study in Québec or returning to France before starting postgraduate work.

An ambassador for Acadia

Duke sees Smith as an ambassador for Acadia and the department. “With the hard work and the enthusiasm and all the things he has going for him, I think he will honestly be somebody to watch,” he says. “He will be somebody who turns communities and people on to their history. I wouldn’t be surprised if we hear his name linked with that kind of activity at a public level, and a well-known public level, in the future.”

While history in its broadest sense may well define Jared Smith’s career, his personal history is only beginning to unfold.