My most significant teacher was not really a teacher. Her name is Dr. Wilma Joe Smetter and she was our district's superintendent my sophomore to half way of my senior year. She taught in a classroom for about the first 15 years of her career. Due to that fact she knew how to relate and communicate with her students very well.
         I graduated from a 1A school district which consisted of about 500 students from elementary to high school. Being that the district was so small, Dr. Smetter took advantage of the fact and not only got to know her students as a whole but as individuals. She continuously visited classrooms and attended almost every extra curricular activity she could. Every student in the district knew who she was and she was admired by many.
        I became close to her because she created a committee which consisted of several students from each campus which was meant to receive input from the students themselves on how to better the district. We met once a month and it was then when I began to notice all she had been doing for our district and realizing that no employee had ever done that before. She made us aware of her open door policy and allowed us to feel free to go and speak to her for any reason at any time. I took advantage of the opportunity and began to visit her on a regular basis. I asked her for advise on furthering my education and as to what courses of action I should take in order to succeed.
       When I started off, I was planing to pursue a degree in communications. After several meetings with her and learning more and more about her views on education and her goals, I began to find myself very interested in becoming an educator as well. After some thinking and getting to know myself a bit better I found that being an educator was meant for me. Not only do I wish to become an educator some day but a mentor as well to a student the was Dr. Smetter became a mentor to me.