Being Kind Doesn't Cost Anything, But It Pays Better Than Money
Everyone at High Point University knows Miss. Val as being a kind-hearted human
who is eager to help out the students who call HPU their home. Her kindness and
generosity has been put in the spotlight, due to the viral video of the graduated 2023 class giving her warm hugs and thank yous at their graduation. All around the world, people have been amazed by Miss. Val's stunning relationship with students, whom she calls “her babies”, at HPU.
Valerie Baxter, who goes by Miss. Val, is a North Carolina native, but High Point is not her hometown. Miss. Val grew up in Charlotte, NC, where her daughter still lives today. She moved to High Point and began working at the Oakland Mall.
She was a security officer at the mall, which is now owned by the university. She worked there when the mall was full of stores, but now the mall sits mostly abandoned. Miss. Val was extremely thankful that the mall had a barber shop because a regular customer of the shop changed her entire life.
“There was an officer that worked [at HPU], his name is Jermaine Artis… he used to come out here to that mall, to the barber shop all the time,” said Miss. Val. “He stopped me as I was patrolling one day in the mall. He introduced himself and said hi, my name is Jermaine Artis and I work at High Point University in security and we are looking for female officers.”
Miss. Val made a call to get the job and as she likes to say, “the rest is HPU history.”
Miss. Val is not just a security guard. She has a second job; she is a poetry writer.
Miss. Val is a published poetry author. Being a published author is extremely incredible, but what Miss. Val chooses to write about is something much more incredible.
Miss. Val writes poetry books that essentially are a bunch of cards that you can give to people in numerous real life situations. Straight From the Heart has cards that cover many situations like the poem, Happy Mother’s Day, Father.
“Because there are some mothers that are raising children and the childrens’ fathers are nowhere around,” said Miss. Val.
Even though this book seems like a fantastic idea and could touch many people’s hearts, Miss. Val wasn’t looking for attention with this book. She actually hasn’t drawn much attention to the fact that she is a published author.
“I wrote my first book in 2013,” said Miss. Val.
“I haven't actually promoted it, because I was like, I just wanted to see if I could do it.”
She truly is a person who wants to be there for others and her book, on top of how she treats everyone at HPU, proves that.
Miss. Val can also call herself a public speaker as she talks to people about the dangers of addiction. She talks to people of all ages about the struggles of addiction, the types of addiction and how to overcome addiction.
She knows the story of addiction very well because she battled a chemical dependency during the late eighties and early nineties. On June 25, 1994, she realized that her life was slipping away, along with her future. So that night she prayed to God, and she has been clean since June 26, 1994. Over her 29 years of being chemical dependency free, she has learned a lot about addiction and has been eager to share her experiences with others.
“Today I speak at different conventions and events focusing on how to arrest them,” said Miss. Val. “I say arrest them because I know it is still there and I am only one bad decision away.”
She has come to realize that addiction can make you feel that there is nothing wrong, even though the symptoms take a toll on you mentally, spiritually and physically. She also explains that it’s not solely about what or how much you consume, but it’s also about your behaviors after the fact. Therefore, addiction is a disease that has to be treated mentally, spiritually and physically.
Miss. Val pushes on and continues the practices that have distanced her from her addiction. She believes that addiction is the only disease that you can pay to start but can’t pay to finish.
“People that want to get better can get better and stay better, however, people that need to get better pay for a temporary solution to a permanent problem,” said Miss. Val.
To move past her addiction, she has turned to God, “accepting I had a problem, surrendering to that problem, and having faith in God with no reservations, I can always continue to give back to others what God has given me.”
It would be extremely beneficial for students to be able to hear Miss. Val’s inspirational story and better understand that they have resources to get help because not only does she have so much to say, but the students at HPU trust her. She’s proof that you can get past addiction and do tremendous things with your life, like spreading kindness to everyone around. Miss. Val wants you all to know that you don’t have to be ashamed to speak out about addiction or any other issues in your lives.
Her saying is, “You can’t heal what you won’t reveal”
She wants to bring her talent of public speaking to HPU and has been pushing for a program where she can speak to people about addiction at school. However, the school continues to push by the book information instead of using Miss.Val as a valuable resource and positive example.
She wants everyone to know that, “It may be fun in the beginning, but I’m here to talk to you about the end. It can come. I don’t care who you are, how much money you have. The end is always gonna come.”
She cares deeply about the students at HPU and she is their number one supporter. This is seen by the fact that she goes to all of the sporting events for both boys and girls. She loves cheering on the student athletes at HPU, but does it for a more important reason.
“I try to make all the athletic events no matter who’s playing… because I want the students to know me without the uniform. You know, and as they trust me out of the uniform they will trust me in the uniform.”
Students definitely trust Miss. Val no matter what her job title is, as a recent video went viral showing the class of 2023 thanking her and hugging her as they graduated. The video was shared on multiple national news platforms and The NBC Today Show welcomed Miss. Val onto their show and gifted her a trip to Cancun.
The View Point reached out to High Point University for a comment regarding Miss. Val’s viral TikTok video.
Pam Haynes, a spokesperson for the university shared in a statement,“HPU is excited that Miss Valerie, as she is fondly called by students, is receiving national recognition for kindness and dedication to everyone around her, and in many ways, for campus security officers everywhere.”
Miss. Val is extremely unselfish and doesn’t consider her newfound fame to be that special.
“...I felt that it was a lot of overkill for something that I didn’t find remarkably different than anything else I do when I’m at work. I felt like at one point I was feeling, it’s not like I went into a burning building and rescued five people or nothing like that you know, it’s just something that I do everyday and I shared that with my lieutenant Clive Moore. And he said ‘yeah Miss. Val it is something you do everyday, however this is the first time people are actually seeing it.’”
Miss. Val is not just a mother figure to all the students at HPU, she is also a mother to her daughter, whom she had taught to continue to spread kindness throughout the world.
Miss. Val describes her daughter as unselfish.“She’s a very, very ambitious young lady, loving, caring.”
“She is probably the most unselfish person I have ever met in my life. Because right after the [Today] show, I was calling her to tell her, look sweetie, we're going to Cancun. And before I could get it out of my mouth, she said ‘Mommy, I think that would be a great trip for you and your best friend to go on.’”
Miss. Val is an incredible woman. She holds so many titles, but most importantly, she is loved by many. She is proof that being kind doesn’t cost anything, but instead is the key to making your own happiness.
So if you ever pass by Ms. Val, say ‘hello’ because she loves meeting new people and sharing the love of being kind.
August 31, 2023
