With a high and thin stature, you might think that he is a basketball player.
However, it can be found by spending most of its time on the first floor of the communications building during meetings with the Organization of associate students.
But once the weekend begins, the melodic tunes sparkle with his fingers through the mallets he maneuver on the Marimba.
Jake Smith, 20, is a major in political science at El Camino College. He plans to transfer to the University of California to Los Angeles in the fall of 2025 as a major in political science.
He is the ASO external affairs commissioner since the fall of 2024 and is vice-president of the Inter-Club Council.
Smith got involved with ASO during his first semester at the ECC in the fall of 2023, initially as a member of the Division Council for Behavioral and social sciences.
His roles involve many responsibilities on the campus, including the planning of students’ events.
“Our main objective in ASO is advocacy, which I do with regard to legislative affairs and the meeting with elected officials and lobbying,” said Smith.
Smith planted the idea of ASO LOBBYING at the California State Assembly in Sacramento.
They did pressure for bills on homelessness and immigration problems known as Assembly bill 49 And AB 90.
“This is really what he does because he is a major in political science and that is what is really passionate,” said Nabeeha Muhammad, director of external ASO affairs.
Muhammad describes their collaboration efforts as still being there for each other when they need help.
Smith was also a Additional instruction coach for political science and member of Political Science Club at ECC.
While his implications on the campus display his passion for political science, his other passion is to play Marimba.
Smith began to use instruments in sixth year when he was part of a group and played the snorkel.
During his first year at West High School, he joined winter percussion for the 2020 season and was one of them each year, except 2021, due to COVVI-19 restrictions.
“And then my last year, I said to myself, oh, I want to learn the percussion Mallet, which is like the Marimba, the Vibraphone and the Xylophone,” said Smith.
Smith played the bell that takes place for its last year of high school.
To continue his job, he joined the Orange County Independentwhich is an independent percussion group. He was part of his 2024 season and the 2025 season.
The rehearsals are long and occur on weekends in Gardena High School.
“We will therefore do like Saturday 9 (AM) at 9 (PM) and Sunday 9 (AM) at 6 (PM),” he said. “But, I mean, I love it.”
Smith said there were a lot of cool people with whom he can work because they really like what they do.
“He (Smith) is actually a really cool person and I like to talk to him and he is really well informed about random things,” said percussionist Daniel Garibay.
Garibay said that Smith’s good work ethics pushes him to train every day, ensuring that he knows all parts of Marimba for the score.
“Every weekend, we would come back, it would be much better than the weekend,” said Garibay.
Balancing school with OIC is a difficult but worthy experience for Smith.
“I’m just trying to be really aware of how I’m spending my time and being proactive to finish stuff,” said Smith. “As I don’t like to procrastinate on stuff, because if I do it, I end up not having time to do it.”
This season, they have played “below”, which concerns dependence, but not a specific type of dependence.
“This is more about the idea of trying to escape something, then to suppress yourself,” said Smith.
Their show lasts about seven minutes, and they wore colored custom costumes with a mixture of purple, red and cream.
For the 2025 season, OIC won seventh place with a score of 94.7 at International Winter Guard Championships For the independent open walk in Dayton, Ohio.
It was better than taking 13th place last year, said Smith.
He recently bought his own Marimba and is looking forward to keeping him in his room to play.
When Smith transfers to the UCLA, he will plan to join their fanfare even if they have no percussion.
Anyway, he always plans to play Marimba.
He hopes people know that to find opportunities, they have to look for them and that they can do many things that are not linked and are always good in this area.
“Part of the human being is to vary in what you do,” said Smith.