What teacher comes to mind when you envision the words “resilience,” “ambidexterity,” or general “awesomeness?”
The answer for many Falcons is the hidden diamond tucked in the CTE department, the jewel of the engineering department and kickass navy veteran Mrs. Soja Smith.
The depth of talent and intellect in our school truly knows no bounds; however, most Falcons forget how much these characteristics extend towards our faculty, particularly our female teachers.
To those unfamiliar with Mrs. Smith, the most memorable aspect of her would be her exuberance, but those who have invested time to speaking to her even just once would find her introspection and pure joy for her craft enchanting.
Join this newspaper as we explore her childhood, her unique experiences studying at the navy academy and subsequently excelling in her field of study and finally settling at Lake.
Smith had always had an aptitude for visualizing projects and materializing her visions due to her father working in the automobile industry.
“My dad raced cars and was a mechanic,” Smith said. “He worked early as I can remember it was our thing. Originally, I wanted to be a mechanic, but my father convinced me that if I could read directions that’s all I needed to work on cars and build engines.”
Quickly, auto mechanics became second-nature as Smith challenged electronics instead.
“I graduated from working on cars to fixing anything electronic, especially radios and TVs. If something broke, I would take it apart and find out why, and then put it back together again,” Smith said. “If I couldn’t fix it, I would take the pieces and parts and make something new.”
Unfortunately, Smith grew up in a transitional period where gender-equality and women-in-stem fields were not as a common place or respected.
“I have always had very dominant men in my life. I grew up on an Army base and to pay for college joined the Navy. I tested very high on the ASVAB and wanted to be a nuclear engineer.” Smith said.
Smith unfortunately still faced a road block in pursuing her aspirations even as job opportunities for women began to open up in the Navy.
“Nuclear engineering was the only job that was not open to women in the Navy. So I took the next highest career I could get for education: advanced electronics.” Smith said
Through sheer tenacity and refusal to submit to intimidation, Smith continued to push through the discomfort of normally being the only woman in the room and excel despite gender-based prejudiced.
“I chose IFF MK12 which is a Ring Laser Gyro Navigator system for Air Traffic Control Direct Altitude and Identity Readout receiver systems. They had never had a female go through that school before since they had just opened up everything but nuclear engineering to females and they thought since it was such a tough school that they wouldn’t have to worry about a billet (job); furthermore, the class starts with 30 sailors and 5 or 6 ends up completing it. The military assumed I would probably flunk out.” Smith said.
“I graduated the top of my class in C school and got my pick of orders. They still had no billets for females for my job so they had to create a way for me to the job. That began my role in a male-dominated field and made me familiar with being underestimated. I went to college at night during the Navy and when I got out of the Navy they paid for the rest of my degree.”
Even with all the momentum, her pathway to education would continue to be an uphill battle despite her qualifications.
“I went to many colleges in the Navy, but when I got out I got my degree from up north in engineering; I was classified a nontraditional student and transferred in for senior year,” said Smith. “In college having hands-on experience gave me more expertise and skills in labs, at first the traditional students did not want to include me even though there were three to four women in the class.” Smith said.
Smith’s story echoes a common tribulation shared by many other women in male-dominated fields, particularly STEM. The need to constantly prove your belonging in an already high-stress environment can be exhausting and isolating
“The other women already had comradery and usually partnered up with each other. At first, they didn’t want to partner up with me, or have me in their teams; however, when they discovered my prior experience and capabilities, they all wanted to partner up with me and have me on their team. There was such a difference that the instructor promoted me to be the lab monitor and assistant. I received the Engineering Honors award for my graduating class.”
“Lockheed Martin (school) was the first place I worked where I really felt respected and an equal footing to my fellow engineers.”
As Smith moved up in her career, so did the number of women in engineering; however, not all corners of her world had caught up to these changes.
“Before I came to Lake in this position I thought women had caught up in number. I am dumbfounded that so few women orient to engineering,” Smith said. “Engineering requires all kinds of thinking, skill sets, and creativity. Both women and men and different strengths and weaknesses just like each individual. Woman must be confident in their abilities and let their work speak for them.” Smith said.
It is through this ideology that Smith carefully instructs aspiring engineers at Lake through the Engineering CTE program, where all forms of talents and interests from Calculus to Design to Kinesiology are nurtured.
“I tried to present every opportunity to them and let them know what a diverse filled engineering is. Not only is there calculus based engineering, and algebra based engineering, but also design engineering and for your kinesthetic learners who enjoy building there is that side also.”
Beloved by all her students, Smith’s charisma is hardly unnoticed.
“Ms. Smith loves all of us individually,” junior Asher Gaworecki said . “She does these little dance breaks on Friday to relieve the stress gained throughout the week. You can tell she is a good person.”
“Ms. Smith is such a great, great person,” junior Jithnuka Kariyawasam said. “If anyone is ever struggling she takes time to support them.”
“Mrs. Smith is a teacher that allows students to engage with the diverse topics of engineering while still maintaining a creative and expressive side to their education.”, Aerospace Engineering President and senior Adi Sabale said.
“I love how much she tries with all her students,” junior Lowell Miller said. “She really tries to figure out their learning style and what they enjoy as well as engaging with her classes to find out what they enjoy.”