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TELL HER 'YOU CAN'T DO THAT AND SHE'LL PROVEYOU WRONG
PATERSON GIRL LIKES BREAKINGBARRIERS

The Record (Bergen County, NJ)

December 3, 2000, CATHY KRZECZKOWSKI, Staff Writer

"She's a very cool and unusual child,"said Jane Silverstein, a
chemistry teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson.

Silverstein continued to describe her student, Jasmine Rodriguez:
"She's also charming, very personable, and very, very self-possessed."

Jasmine, a 17-year-old senior, is one of only two girls on the
school's wrestling team. Her coach, Gary Moore, said she is one of the
toughest wrestlers to pin.

"She's very aggressive when she's out there. She's won matches
with both girls and boys,"said Moore.

Jasmine holds her own in the classroom, as well. She takes on many
extracurricular activities and still manages consistently to earn A's
and B's. She admits, however, that she finds math difficult. But she's
confident that will change soon.

"I'm getting a tutor,"said Jasmine, who laughed at the irony: The
teen, a member of the National Honor Society, is usually the one doing
the tutoring.

She's also on the volleyball and softball teams and the yearbook
committee, her job is taking photographs and collecting the seniors
baby photos, and she's in the mixed choir. Last year she was selected
to take part in the All City Concert in Paterson, but she couldn't go.

She had a wrestling match that day.

A girl on a wrestling team? Some people may think that's unusual.

Others may think that's cool. But if you ask Jasmine, she'll just shrug
her shoulders and make it sound as if it's all in a day's play.

"I like the sport. It's fun. I like the workouts. I like the
friendship and the togetherness. And I like the respect I get from the
other players," she said."It also makes me feel good about myself. It
makes me want to do more."

The"more"she's referring to in this instance 1 could also be placed
in that same"cool and unusual"category. Jasmine recently joined the
Marines. In fact, she'll go directly to training camp at Parris Island,
S.C., after she graduates in June.

"I'm striving to get into intelligence. There's a whole lot of
different jobs under that division, like data specialist, Morse code
specialist, topography,"she said,"or if not that, then I'd like to be
an avionic technician.

"One of the reasons I joined the Marines was because everyone was
telling me I couldn't do it because I'm a girl. They'd say, 'Don't join
wrestling because you're a girl. Don't join the Marines because you're a
girl.'
"Well, I always like to set a goal for myself and then prove to
people that they're wrong," Jasmine said.

"And I joined because I also knew I could take it,"she said, with
confidence.

She gives others confidence as well, through her work as a member
of Peer Connection. This club consisting of seniorsworks at making
freshmen feel comfortable at school and encourages them to get them
involved in extracurricular activities, Jasmine explained.

"I've been doing it for two years... because some of the
freshman feel weird when they get here," she said.

But Jasmine has learned that it works both ways: The freshmen help
her, too.

"I have a whole lot of freshmen friends. I just like hanging out
with them,"said Jasmine."Sometimes being a senior or junior is just
too complicated. So we just get together, have some fun, and make each
other laugh and feel better." She also helps mediate conflicts in school,
but she giggled when
asked whether she'd ever had to wrestle anyone to the ground to break up
a fight.

"No, no, I don't like to fight. I've had opportunities to fight in
school, but I've learned to have patience and to just keep on walking. I
come to school to learn, not to fight,"she said.

"But when I'm home? Don't mess with me,"she joked.

Cool and unusual? It didn't take long to wrestle those words out of
Silverstein. And it didn't take long to realize her description of
Jasmine fits like a glove.