By: Kayla Kuppertz Editor-in-Chief

Our teacher spotlight for the 2015 Homecoming issue naturally goes to the teacher behind the magic. Mrs. Smith, among teaching various mathematics courses, is the adviser for student council, the group that organizes Homecoming. The Squire sat down with her to get to know her a little bit better.

The Squire: Tell us a bit about the homecoming theme.

Mrs. Smith: The homecoming theme was based on the movie, The Wizard of Oz, and we named it, “There’s No Place Like Home-coming.” All of our decorations were ideas from The Wizard of Oz and our spirit week ideas came from that as well.

TS: How did you decide on the theme for this year?

MS: Student council members come up with ideas, and we talk about each of them and then we have a vote. Ultimately, I generally leave it up to the seniors because it’s their last homecoming, and it’s the last one they get to decorate for. They really liked the Wizard of Oz idea, so that’s what we went with.

TS: How important is homecoming to student council?

MS: Homecoming is our biggest event of the year, so it’s pretty important.

TS: What’s your favorite thing about homecoming?

MS: When it’s over.

TS: What all goes into planning and putting on the dance?

MS: Well, we have to come up with our decorations and make all of them, or order things. We have to set time aside to actually decorate. We need to find a DJ. We need to make sure we have snacks and beverages. We need to sell tickets and decide on the ticket prices. And I’m sure there’s something else.

TS: What other fundraisers does student council do?

MS: It depends. We do different things. In the past, we’ve done apparel sales in the fall, the Match-O-Matics at Valentine’s Day, and we’ve done the Color Run in the spring the last few years. Last year, we tried for the Snowball Dance a couple times, but that didn’t work out for us. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that this year. And then just other things, like last year we had a concert, and whatever ideas the kids come up with, we do.

TS: What kinds of students are you looking for to be in student council?

MS: I want kids that are going to work hard and come up with ideas, be creative, and are willing to spend time outside of school on the things that we need to do. One of the problems that I typically find is kids are overly involved, so they have too many other things going on that they can’t necessarily do stuff after school when we need to. But just kids that are willing to put forth some extra effort.

TS: How do you balance being an adviser and a teacher?

MS: I don’t! Mostly just Homecoming week is when it’s really, really hard. It’s very stressful. It was a really long, exhausting week for me, and like I said, that’s my favorite part of homecoming: when it’s over.

TS: How much school spirit would you say you have?

MS: I have a lot of school spirit, and that’s kind of the reason I took on student council. I went to school here, and when I was in school, the school spirit was huge. Everybody came to everything, and I wanted to try to bring that back a little bit.

TS: What inspired you to be a math teacher?

MS: I actually never wanted to be a teacher. I started college as an engineering major and wasn’t doing so well with that. My first year calculus teacher suggested that I be a tutor at the college and I started doing that, and that’s what led me to become a teacher.

TS: Do you have a favorite subject to teach (i.e. Math IV vs. Pre-Calculus)?

MS: Not really. They all have different things that I enjoy doing.

TS: What is the best part of teaching at Eisenhower for you?

MS: The kids. You’re good kids. J

TS: If you were the DJ at homecoming, what songs would you play?

MS: Oh, I’m a country girl. There would be a whole lot of country.

TS: Do you have a signature dance move? If so, what is it?

MS: No, there’s no dancing for me.

Hopefully, now you know a bit more about one of our many spectacular teachers here at Eisenhower. Be sure to thank Mrs. Smith for all of her hard work organizing the dance and being such a great teacher!