Brooke Smith had a way of sitting next to someone and making the space between them disappear.
Her cousins, Mikey and Antonio, said whenever she entered a room, she always made the people in it feel comfortable and at ease.
“It wasn’t just what you did,” her cousins wrote in a statement to The Alligator. “It was who you were.”
Smith, 23, died May 26. She was a UF nursing student and was only months away from completing her degree.
Those who knew her said she carried both strength and softness. Her cousins said she never allowed challenges to define or limit her.
Instead, they deepened her empathy and shaped the way she showed up for others.
“You were incredibly dedicated,” her cousins wrote. “From the outside looking in, we know the nursing program was not easy, but you were built for it. You carried strength, compassion and resilience in everything you did.”
Smith previously earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Santa Fe College and was set to graduate from UF with her nursing degree shortly after her 24th birthday. Smith wanted to become a travel nurse.
Her cousins said their time together was filled with deep conversations, laughter, jokes and endless memories that remain with them every day.
Smith’s friend Chloe Fernander remembers her as someone who made connections feel immediate and natural. In a statement shared with The Alligator, she described their first interaction as something that felt effortless, as if familiarity existed long before their introductions.
“The first time we met, she sat down next to me, struck up a conversation and made me feel like we had known each other much longer,” she wrote. “That was just who she was: welcoming, kind and genuinely interested in the people around her.”
Fernander recalled how Brooke was always there for her friends.
“The last time I saw her, she was the only person willing to go throw a boomerang with me in the sticky Gainesville heat,” she wrote.
Although the rain changed their plans, the two spent a few hours talking and laughing together.
She said the joy, love and laughter Smith brought into her and others’ lives won’t be forgotten.
Apart from pursuing nursing school, Smith also worked at Apex YogaPod Gainesville as a certified yoga instructor.
In a statement by Smith’s family, sent to The Alligator by the owner of YogaPod, she was described as independent, curious and drawn toward trying new things — always willing to embrace the unexpected.
“Brooke shared her light, her love and her joie de vivre with others,” her family wrote. “Her spirit and soul spoke with generosity and inclusion, lifting others up.”
Humor was another of Smith’s strong suits.
They remember her laughter as contagious and unmistakable, making others laugh without meaning to. She easily brought people together with her goofy nature and smiles.
“Elle brûle plus brillante que toutes les étoiles,” her family wrote in their statement.
The French phrase translates to, “She burns brighter than all the stars.”
“Brooke shone so brightly,” her family wrote, “and her light was extinguished too soon.”
Contact Swasthi Maharaj at smaharaj@alligator.org. Follow her on X @s_maharaj1611.
Swasthi Maharaj is a political science and politics, philosophy, economics and law (PPEL) junior at UF. This is Swasthi's fourth semester at The Alligator, and her third semester on the university desk. She's also reported on the enterprise desk. Swasthi loves coffee, reading, going to concerts, baking and taking long walks.
