Hayden Prescott Corwin ’15
THE ROUNDUP
The room fills with the sound of David Bowie’s song “Five Years” as Mr. Steve Smith ’96 moves his hands away from his computer.
“It was wonderful although I was not the most involved guy, and I really wish I could go back and be involved,” Mr. Smith said reflecting on his years as a Brophy student. “I was very quiet, and I was that very quiet kid in class who totally paid attention, never raised his hand ever in four years, but I was very engaged in class.”
After graduating, Mr. Smith went to Arizona State University and graduated with an English degree.
Immediately after obtaining his degree, he started taking classes to become a teacher.
“Brophy actually was on my mind when I decided to become a teacher,” Mr. Smith said. “I don’t know if I was nervous or something, but I didn’t immediately apply to (teach at) Brophy. I thought I would go be a teacher somewhere else and see if I was good at it or decent at it and then I’d try for Brophy. So, I taught at a school named Washington for five years.”
Mr. Smith then ran into his first teacher from when he was a Brophy student at a party who said that Mr. Smith should apply to teach at alma mater.
He did and has been teaching freshmen classes for eight years now.
In that time, Mr. Smith has left his mark on students.
“He is the only reason that I have done so well in my English classes at Brophy,” said Jake Anderson ’15.
A teacher with as much experience in the classroom as Mr. Smith usually has a few memorable moments to tell about his students.
“I don’t feel like I have an answer of the memorable moment,” Mr. Smith said. “I would say every single year teaching freshmen and just the small moments in class, the random moments in class where we joke around and … every class would have their little inside jokes … I bet we could talk in 20 more years and I’ll still remember the small moments.”
Mr. Smith paused.
“It’s the individual classes, it’s the individual personalities in the room and just the small moments and the small conversations,” Mr. Smith said. “That’s the thing I will always remember.”