JOPLIN, Mo. — The Golden Lion Award officially hits ten years of recognizing outstanding students this year. We start a new list of over achievers with a Carl Junction Bulldog.

“I’ve been in the CJ School District since preschool.”

Giving Carl Junction senior Jasmine Sargent deep roots in the school system. She’s in the National Honor Society and got 2nd in the state in her favorite kind of competition.

“I’ve been on archery team since fourth grade,” said Sargent.

But Jasmine isn’t just focused on her own life goals. She helps out around campus, including pitching in in preschool classes.

“Just help them like work on like, their coloring skills and their cutting skills and just like help them like with their fine motor skills.”

Jasmine is also part of the Reading Buddies program with kindergarten and 1st graders… and mentors students through the Team Bulldog project.

“I help in the sixth grade. And we just help kids that are like, socially at risk, or they’re maybe new in the district. And we just helped them like become more like social.”

There’s also Bright Futures Carl Junction, where Jasmine helps to organize donations for students in need.

“So it’s like it’s almost like a store. So we just have everything sorted by sizes and so I just helped put things away.”

Skills she also puts to good use in the community, helping Fostering Hope.

“Basically an organization that takes like donations from people and gives them to the people that have like foster kids.”

It adds up to a big time commitment, which she’s happy to make — a giving nature that teacher Hunter Knox says makes Jasmine a very deserving Golden Lion.

“Outside of the classroom, she does a lot of different stuff. So she realizes that the end goal of her work is not just for her own benefit, but for other people,” said Knox.

Jasmine is already planning for the future – including an education as a Lion:

“I plan to attend Missouri Southern and I’m going to be a pediatric nurse practitioner. And so I just love being around kids. I love helping other people. I feel like it’s a great way for me to do both,” said Sargent.