Mr. Smith had this unique way of including everyone without allowing anyone to feel like they're just like everyone else. I was his first freshman teacher assistant. He told me that he didn't want freshmen as his TA's because they were too young and inexperienced. I convinced him otherwise by bugging him about it until he gave in. I went on to be his TA at least once a year for the rest of the years I was in high school. He used to send me to Safeway to buy tomatoes for taco night, reader glasses (because he broke them so easily), and the newspaper. He was one of my favorite teachers throughout my years in the St. Helens School District. I still quote his "don't be sorry, be right" to my friends. I got into a bit of an argument with another teacher senior year, for reasons Mr. Smith knew, out in the hall near Mr. Smith's classroom and I'll never forget how he came out into the hall and completely backed me up in the argument, against his colleague, and then he pulled me into the gym to help him set up for his next PE class. Not only did I learn so much from him academically but also on how to be a decent and good human being with common sense. One day he had me test all of his markers on a piece of paper and throw out the ones that had dried up. I completely covered a piece of paper in strips of color and then I thought I threw it away but he kept it, wrote my name on it, framed it and then gave it to me as my graduation gift. It was simple but meaningful and I still have it. Mr. Smith is so incredibly missed and his absence will be a loss for the future students at SHHS.
