Published: June 21, 2008 07:33 pm            

AT RANDOM: Educating the residents of Huntsville

Whenever anyone sits down across from her desk at the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce, Carol Smith sets a goal for herself.

Whether it’s a small business owner, a housewife, or a reporter looking for a story, Smith seems determined to teach them something.

For more than 30 years, Smith has been educating the residents of Huntsville in one way or another, from her years in the Home Economics Department at Huntsville High School to her chair on the Huntsville Education Foundation.

As a five generation native of Walker County, Smith wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Huntsville is a very unique, special place,” Smith said. “It’s growing, but it still maintains its small town atmosphere.”

After graduating from Sam Houston State University, Smith knew she wanted to keep her work close to the home she loved.

“I started temporarily working at Huntsville High School when I got out of college,” Smith said, “and after my trial period, they insisted that I stay. I was thrilled.”

Perhaps even more powerful than Smith’s love of her hometown is her love of her chose profession.

“I always knew I wanted to be a teacher,” Smith said. “I was the oldest sister in my family, and whenever we played together we would always get around to playing school. I was always the teacher. Even when I didn’t have anyone around to each, I would line up all my dolls and play school.”

Smith’s childhood dedication to teaching anyone who would listen quickly became the hallmark of her professional life.

After college, Smith brought her home economics degree and her love of passing on knowledge to Huntsville High School, where she helped to start a teen parenting program and worked to teach homebound students.

Smith turned her passion for teaching into a career in the home economics department, where she quickly earned a reputation as a teacher with a firm hand.

“Because I had two small children, I took almost the role of mother in the classroom,” Smith said. “Whenever the kids came into my class, they were mine, and my rules would apply just like their mother’s rules would apply at home.”

Smith’s motherly approach to teaching combined with her insistence that her students pick up after themselves earned her the nickname “Mrs. Clean.”

Smith attributes her choice of home economics as her teaching field to a family influence.

“I had a number of relatives in the home ec field,” she said. “Being that I was the oldest girl, they would take me to all of these home ec events, and I just grew to love that field of study.”

As she discusses the numerous projects and events she devised for her students, it is obvious that Smith’s love of the field is still very present.

“The older I got, the more I realized how important a strong home and family is,” Smith said. “Anything I could do to strengthen that aspect of my student’s live was important to me.”

After retiring from Huntsville ISD, Smith taught part time in the home economics department at Sam Houston State University for four years.

Even after retiring from teaching, Smith was unable to give up serving the community she loves.

Fifteen years ago, she took a job at the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce, where she continued her passion of community service and public education.

“When I was at Huntsville High, we would always work with the Chamber to find projects for the kids,” Smith said. “The more I worked with them, th more I knew this would be a fun place to work. I don’t look at this as a job. To me this is fun.”

Smith currently serves as the Chamber’s Manager of Membership and Community Development, a job she says still highlights her love of teaching.

“My love of education is a good fit here,” she said. “I get to work with people and educate them about what the chamber does. This is a great overall investment in the community.”

Though her years as a teacher are over, Smith is still working with Huntsville ISD. She serves as the chairman for the Huntsville Education Foundation, an organization she has worked with for the last five years.

Smith also serves as treasurer of the Walker County Fair Association, an organization she was once president. She says her work with the fair association is a family affair.

“My whole family works on the fair every year,” she said. “I just see it as another way to support kids in a very positive way.”

After more than three decades of service to Huntsville and Walker County, it is clear that Smith is still not ready to stop.

“If we can come together as a community, we can become even stronger,” Smith said, speaking about her ultimate goal for her work at the Chamber. “That’s why I love being here.”

        

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