VCU student ‘humble’ after Kennedy tribute

Jasmine Harrison was in the second grade when one of the nation’s best-known senators became her reading buddy.

“I’m still just appreciating the magnitude of it,“ said Harrison, a Virginia Commonwealth University freshman whose reading mentor through the sixth grade was Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts.

Harrison, 17, from Washington, was featured Monday night in a video tribute to the senator shown during the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

She said she did not watch the live broadcast and had mentioned it to only a few people, because she doesn’t like to be the center of attention. But a copy of the tribute that she had been sent earlier left her feeling “very humble.“

“I’ve been kind of quiet and into myself about it,“ she said.

Harrison had a weekly lunchtime reading date with Kennedy for five years while she attended Robert Brent Elementary School in Washington. The mentorship was established through the “Everybody Wins!“ program.

“He was very caring and very supportive,“ she recalled yesterday in an interview from her dorm room. “He rarely missed a reading session.“

She said Kennedy was relaxed but made sure she stayed on task, encouraging her to look up words she didn’t know and sound them out.

He stayed in touch even after the mentorship ended, said Harrison, who plans to major in education.

When she heard that Kennedy had been diagnosed with brain cancer in May, she sent him a get-well card. The senator’s wife, Vicki, sent back a thank-you note telling Harrison that Kennedy had been very excited to hear from her.

Later, she was asked whether she would take part in the tribute, which was directed by filmmakers Ken Burns and Mark Herzog.

“I was very, very honored,“ she said.

Still, she hadn’t realized the reaction she would get until she started getting congratulatory phone calls and e-mails from family and some VCU officials yesterday, as well as media requests for interviews.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is huge, really huge.‘“

And she still is coming to terms with just how big a name the senator who was her mentor is.

“I’m still getting that full picture, to this day,“ she said.

Contact Karin Kapsidelis at (804) 649-6119 or .