Grad goes from business field to classroom
By Sarah Chacko
Staff Reporter

Brad Smith swore he would never be a teacher. His mother was a teacher and Smith found the profession the furthest from his thoughts.

“I didn’t want to go through the same crap she went through,” Smith said.

Today, Smith says that teaching is his calling. He says he has learned a lot about teachers, education and the joy of helping people learn.

Smith, a Fort Worth resident, was the all-American boy. He said he ran track in high school, actively participated in his church youth group and had been popular with the ladies.

Throughout high school and into his first semester of college, Smith was fascinated with biology and wanted to become a doctor. Upon arrival at TCU, Smith declared biology as his major and took the pre-med track.

After a while, Smith became less interested in practicing medicine but wanted to remain in the medical field. Smith turned to nursing but became increasingly disinterested.

Eventually, Smith turned to business.

“Everyone else majors in business,” Smith said. “I thought I’d give it a try.”

The field of business kept his interest, and when Smith graduated from TCU in 2001, economics had finally won out as his major.

Unfortunately, Smith could not pursue economics very far, based on the American economy itself.

“When I graduated, there was just no economy for jobs,” he said.

Undaunted, Smith made a list of jobs that he felt he could do.

“They were jobs that I could wake up every morning and feel good about doing,” Smith said.

Over a three-month period, teaching slowly inched to the top of the list. Smith talked to his mother about it, seeking advice from someone who knows the ins and outs of teaching.

Linda Smith, Brad’s mother, said she was concerned about Brad’s sincerity to teach.

“Brad’s not the type of person to take things seriously,” she said.

Over time, through graduate school and student teaching, Linda Smith said she felt more and more sure that Brad had found his niche.

“You can tell that he has evolved into a caring and compassionate person,” she said. “He is very excited about teaching.”

Smith started graduate school at TCU last June, seeking a master’s of education with initial certification. He said all his TCU experiences — the friends and enemies, the studying and partying — have made him the person he is.

Smith will be done with student teaching this Friday, and is expecting to finish graduate school in August. His plan is to become an economics teacher, with hopes to move into biology.

Smith said his five-year plan is to seek a doctorate in education and perhaps pursue a collegiate level teaching job. Regardless of where he ends up, Smith is sure that he has made the right choice.

“There’s nothing better,” he said. “This is why God put me on the earth — to take care of the ladies and become a teacher.”

Sarah Chacko