Roane State Community College

Jacob Hughett

Nov. 21, 2018

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

He thought he was still dreaming.

That was Roane State Community College student Jacob Hughett's initial reaction when he was awakened by a phone call at 6 a.m. Aug. 28 and told he would be flying to Washington, D.C., that evening.

Later that afternoon, Hughett learned he'd be meeting with President Donald Trump the next day for a grant announcement on anti-drug efforts.

Hughett had been chosen by Trent Coffey, executive director of STAND (Schools Together Allowing No Drugs) Coalition of Scott County, to accompany him as the organization’s youth representative. Hughett, 18, is a former president of the coalition’s Youth Service Learning Initiative.

The STAND Coalition was one of six such organizations invited to the White House for the grant announcement out of more than 750 groups nationwide.

Hughett on Aug. 29 not only met with Trump in the West Wing of the White House, he spoke with him. "I like to call it my 60 seconds with the president," Hughett said. He said he sat across the table from presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway.

When Trump during the meeting asked Hughett if he had anything he'd like to say, "I had so many thoughts going through my head in one split-second," Hughett said. "I wasn't prepared."

But the teenager kept his composure. He described his granddad's alcohol dependency to cope with post-traumatic stress from wartime trauma, and how his parents escaped the cycle of poverty and drug dependence.

"Trump told me I did a good job," Hughett recalled. "He said he was proud of me, and my family should be proud."

During the round table, Trump announced $91 million in grants to more than 731 anti-drug groups in all 50 states. The Stand Coalition will receive $125,000 from the Drug-Free Communities Support Program through the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"Meeting Trump the man was so much better than anything either side of the media would say," Hughett said. "It made him real and gave him a human side."

Hughett, the son of Don and Lounicia Hughett of Huntsville, Tenn., was in Roane State's dual enrollment program while attending Scott County High School, where he was one of several valedictorians during last May's graduation ceremony.

"I really enjoyed it," he said of dual enrollment, adding that he received 21 hours of college credit while in the program. Because of it, he'll be a Roane State sophomore after the current semester.

Long term plans are to transfer to a university and obtain a degree in marketing and economics. He'd like to land a job in the state's Department of Economic and Community Development. If that doesn't pan out, he may go for a master's degree "and maybe teach at Roane State one day."