For a young teen starting high school in a new and strange city, the High Line provided the path to a supportive community of mentors and peers, and a bright future in the arts.

As a junior at New York University majoring in film production and drama, Kymberli Smith appears to be living every aspiring young artist’s dream. A brilliant young woman brimming with energy and enthusiasm, Kym spent two weeks working at the Cannes Film Festival this year, served as a production assistant on an Apple TV production starring Jessica Chastain, and volunteers with an organization that helps foster children see Broadway shows.

But it was only a few short years ago that Kym found herself in very different circumstances. Raised in Georgia, Kym was only 14 years old when she was sent to live with family in New York City following the death of her father. Not long after starting her freshman year at Museum High School in Chelsea, however, she was placed in foster care. Alone in a strange city and new school, Kym sought the advice of her high school dean as to how to make friends and connect with her community. Her dean recommended the High Line Fellows: Emerging Leaders program (High Line Teens at the time)—the High Line’s employment, career development, and leadership program for local youth.

“The High Line was the first place that I brought myself to after I went into the foster care system,” Kym recently recalled. “My bosses and my co-workers at the High Line were some of the first people I told, and it was the first place that I felt comfortable disclosing those things about myself because I knew that I had a home and a community here. They taught me that I wasn’t alone and on my own, that I could build a community around myself.”

The High Line Fellows: Emerging Leaders program is a paid employment and career development opportunity for New York teens who live in or attend high school in the neighborhoods surrounding the High Line. As part of a three-year cohort, Fellows explore careers by choosing from among four learning pathways—Arts & Culture, Park & Visitor Experience, Horticulture, and Civic Engagement. Kym chose the Civic Engagement pathway, where she worked with the High Line’s Community Engagement team to build connections with neighborhood groups, plan public events, and liaise with elected officials. The work also included creating content for the High Line Fellows on Instagram and attending meetings of the High Line Neighbors Council, where she would take and distribute notes.

“It completely changed my outlook on New York and the way I thought about community,” said Kym, who would go on to complete a Summer Residency with the Community Engagement team. “I especially loved organizing our Saturday workshops. We would attend bingo at some of the artists’ housing near the High Line; we planned events like ¡Arriba!, the Latin dance party; and we worked with local officials to do community advocacy work. It made so much sense to me, because I really wanted to be rooted in the community and understand New York City in this deep kind of way.”

CaptionPhoto by Liz Ligon

Kym threw herself into the work, volunteering for extra assignments and seeking out mentoring opportunities with High Line staff. She forged close friendships with peers who shared her interests, and built a supportive network of mentors and colleagues around her who remain important relationships in her life to this day.

“High Line staff helped me with my college applications, wrote my recommendations, and cried with me when I didn’t get into Juilliard,” Kym recalled. “I remain close with several of them today, and they continue to support my projects.”

As much as Kym had found the family and sense of belonging she was seeking at the High Line, she says she also gained critical career experience and professional skills.

“I learned that teams only work if everyone shares the same intention and has the same appreciation for what we are all doing together, but there also has to be someone at the center who has complete respect for everything going on,” she said. “I learned how to hold the attention of a room and to be cognizant of how everyone feels about what’s being proposed in that room.”

But perhaps the greatest gift she received from her experience at the High Line was the validation she needed to pursue her true lifelong goal of becoming an actress.

“In the South, where I am originally from, anything art-related was viewed as a fake job. The attitude is very much, you’re going to get a real job and get married,” Kym said. “At the High Line, I learned that society values artists much more than I thought. There were just so many role models for me: mature, independent women who were pursuing careers, making their own art. I realized that you can have a super-cool, art-filled, fun life and that can be your real job.”

“The community organizing experience I gained from the High Line has absolutely followed me into the things that I do now. I am only a good production assistant or good assistant producer or director because I learned the skills that make me good at those things on the High Line.”