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[Ken Beckley:] Even as a little girl growing up in Bloomington,
Jayma Meyer knew exactly what she wanted.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] In the summer, when I was five years old, I would already start walking
by myself over to the swimming pool waiting for it to open.
Being there early, I would stand at the chain link fence watching
"Doc" Councilman and his IU men's team practice.
Right then, I decided I wanted what the boys had, what the guys had.
So I joined the Bloomington AAU swim team and became absolutely addicted to swimming.
High school came and there was no girls' swim team.
In fact, there was no sports team at all for girls at my high school.
So I begged the boys' coach to let me swim with them.
But he said no, absolutely no.
And I asked why, and he said, "Because it'd be humiliating to my boys."
[Ken Beckley:] By her senior year in high school, Jayma ranked top 10 in the world
in the 100-meter butterfly, a feat achieved without the advantage
of being on a high school swim team.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] I then swam at the Olympic trials,
but I was not one of the top two finishers in my event.
My dream died all in a one-minute race.
When I arrived here in Bloomington,
it was straight from the Olympic trials, quite frankly, in a huge funk.
I was not happy at all.
My dream had ended.
And IU had no women's team, so I had to do what every elite swimmer that point did,
female swimmer, and quit swimming.
[Ken Beckley:] At IU, Jayma channeled her endless drive into a new opportunity
at the nascent School of Public and Environmental Affairs,
now the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] I picked myself up like any athlete learns to do and discovered SPEA.
It was brand new at that point.
It too was trying to figure out who to be just like I was.
And it was focused on solving public solutions.
So I thought, "That's it!
That's a good fit for me.
Let me try it."
[Ken Beckley:] A member of the first graduating class of SPEA, Jayma set a high bar.
[Sian Mooney:] Jayma is one of our earliest alumni, and she's had just a fantastic career
in both the government, the private, and the nonprofit sector.
She started off working for the Federal Trade Commission and then she moved
into the private sector for antitrust.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] Antitrust is all about fairness in business, and a lot of my work was
in the conspiracy and price fixing area.
[Ken Beckley:] After a successful career in antitrust law, Jayma forged the next chapter
of her life back at her alma mater.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] I was very fortunate in 2014
when SPEA awarded me their distinguished alumni award.
I gave the graduating speech, and in the speech, I encouraged the students to pivot
from the classroom into the world in an area that they found fulfilling.
And I had this sort of aha moment that this applied to me too.
And I realized, you know, I could do something that's more fulfilling,
and that's when I started doing all my Title IX work.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] Ensuring equality and fairness for women under Title IX in sports.
[Ken Beckley:] Today, Jayma represents school-aged girls on a pro bono basis,
working to create the kinds of opportunities that were once denied to her.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] My pro bono work focuses largely on underserved schools.
And I've found frequently that minority girls finish last, so I tried to focus on situations
on schools where Black and Brown girls just do not have the same opportunities.
[Ken Beckley:] And why we've come a long way since she was a young swimmer,
there is much more to be done, and Jayma is helping lead the charge.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] Now, there still are great inequities.
The amount of money that's spent on the two tournaments, the difference is enormous.
They are enormous difference in the sponsorships and the media rights.
But we're catching up.
We're catching up.
We're improving.
We're moving in the right direction.
[Sian Mooney:] Jayma's pro bono work, I think, is really sort of, you can think of it
as living some of the values of the O'Neil school in day-to-day life.
One of our mantras is "Lead for the greater good."
And so I think that Jayma Meyer really embodies that leading for the greater good.
She's showing students how you can give back to society.
[Ken Beckley:] She continues to exemplify the values of perseverance and generosity,
both as a visiting clinical professor and as a member of the Dean's Advisory Council.
[Beth Cate:] Jayma was a standout kind of from the start, really, because she is so energetic.
She's really passionate about some major law and policy issues that our students connect
with very naturally, but also about teaching and learning and just developing students,
creating opportunities for them to connect with the real-world practice
of what they're learning in the classroom.
[Jayma M. Meyer:] I want to give them the skills to make a difference.
I want them to be aware of what the law requires and make certain that they go out
and that they do what they can do to change inequities.
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