• I grew up here in Ketchikan and attended elementary school at White Cliff.  I started playing the violin in third grade.  I was highly involved with Girl Scouts and my church youth group.  I represented the State of Alaska two times as a teenager.  Once with Girl Scouts I met Nancy Reagan at tea in the White House, and the second time was when I was Miss Teen Alaska.  Both honors were because of my community involvement.  As a young adult, my involvement only grew.  I began to learn about my Tlingit culture and the foods that surround us living here in Southeast Alaska.  
     
    My love of teaching started when I was in grade school.  I had very caring teachers and I learned so much from them.  I wanted to be a teacher and would walk to White Cliff from Schoenbar when I was in Junior High to help my sixth grade teacher correct papers.  As I went through high school I knew that when I went to college I would study to be a teacher.
     
    I went to college in Ellensburg, Washington for two years.  I got so homesick that I transferred to Juneau to the University of Alaska Southeast.  That is where I graduated from with my Bachelors Degree in Education.  I have taught for a total of 18 years.  I graduated in 2010 with my Masters Degree in Special Education, also from UAS. 
     
    I love teaching.  I am so happy to be teaching your child.  It is a wonderful thing to see their excitement about learning.  It is my desire for that spark to continue to grow, even after our year is over. 
     
    Miss Smith