Local teacher honored

On Monday, a Clark Magnet High School teacher busily prepared a presentation of his pet project, Alice, an educational software program that allows students to stretch their imagination and hone computer skills in a 3-dimensional environment. The program is something Roger Smith is passionate about and he was nervous as he gathered his students and paperwork.

“I noticed Dr. [Michael] Escalante was there [at the presentation at Clark],” said Smith. But he didn’t think anything was unusual, he just assumed he was there for a meeting or to join the staff for lunch.

Smith’s wife Charlotte was also there but then again she often comes by with his daughter Charl Ann and his two grandchildren, Abigail and Nathan, to visit with administrative secretary Barbara Melone. So again, he didn’t think anything was odd.

“I did wonder why my older daughter, Stacy, was with them,” he said.

Stacy works in the city and was busy in the afternoons completing her studies for obtaining her teaching degree. And still he just thought it was a normal day, until Principal Doug Doll asked Smith to invite Escalante on stage. At that point, Smith was told that he was being honored with the prestigious Delmonte Award.

“I was completely clueless,” Smith said of the secrecy and well-planned surprise.

Smith has been a teacher for 40 years. He began teaching at Crescenta Valley High School in 1968; his specialty was electronics. When asked what has kept him in the teaching field so long, he answered, “The kids yearning for knowledge and this staff. These are some of the best teachers in the world right here. And the administration — it’s a fantastic administration. That keeps me going.”

Although 40 years is a long time in one profession, for Smith it has been a constant, challenging and innovative journey.

“The technology has changed. I remember at CVHS, it was such a big deal when the math department got the first electronic calculator. We locked that thing up where kids could only touch the keyboard and [we] fastened it to a desk.”

The next step at CVHS was when instructors began teaching a class on programming. Of course, Smith said, there was one mainframe computer that was “downtown” and there was one terminal at CV.