After getting her two degrees from Rice, she would return to her Central Texas hometown of Schulenberg and become a school teacher. But somewhere along the way through her years at Rice, something changed.
She had come to Rice to participate in the Master of Arts in Teaching program, which allows undergraduate students working on a bachelor’s degree to earn graduate-level credits — and a master’s degree in five years.
It also allowed Smajstrla to teach at Houston’s Heights High School, where something about the students and the community captured her heart.
“This is a family here,” she says. “I’m staying here. I’m like, I’m not leaving.”
Now, her passion and talent have earned her the Houston Independent School District’s Beginning High School Teacher of the Year award. She was nominated by a vote of her peers and chosen as the winner based on her work with students — all while earning her master’s degree at Rice.
Smajstrla had long wanted to work in education. It was during one of her first classes at Rice, in which students observe a high school in Houston, that she knew she'd chosen the right path.
“For me, teaching not only allows me to be proud of myself — and have my family be proud of me as well — but it's the impact that I'm having on all of these kids, because I impact 175 kids this year alone,” said Smajstrla.
Smajstrla jokes that her slogan is “You got this!” It’s written all around her classroom. She wants her students to know that she cares for them, but they have to do the work themselves.
“Saying ‘you got this’ puts the pressure on them and puts the fact that I believe in them on them, because I know they ‘got it.’ Why would I be saying it otherwise, right?" she said. “But all of my kids, I believe, really believe in that once they leave this classroom. So they don't give up. They push on through.”
Smajstrla will return to Heights High next year to continue teaching world geography and Advanced Placement U.S. history.
“I care about my students. I genuinely believe that they can all succeed. And they can all succeed in my class specifically, because I listen to them,” she says. “I care. I care probably too much some days.
“But to me, they're the reason I do the job, right?” she says. “If I'm not making my kids happy, if they're not happy to be here, why am I a teacher?