Tommy Smigiel: Virginia Teacher Of The Year

By Sharon Bivens

“You will possibly see me running for office one day, but it will be on the platform of education,” said Smigiel, who is active in local Democratic Party campaigns. “I see more and more people getting elected to office that truly do not understand what is happening in public schools.”

Teaching, however, is his calling for now, and it’s a profession he is clearly passionate about. Smigiel was named the state’s top teacher in October and, in early January, learned that he had been selected as one of four finalists for National Teacher of the Year honors.

Just months after graduating from ODU in 2000, Smigiel began teaching earth science at his other alma mater, Norview High School in Norfolk. During his first few years, he helped the school achieve a sharp increase in its Virginia Standards of Learning pass rate.

The 29-year-old Norfolk native says his experiences at ODU – everything from serving as student body president to presenting workshops as a student ambassador – helped prepare him to teach leadership classes at Norview, something he has done now for the past two years.

While he had success teaching earth science, Smigiel’s epiphany moment came when he attended an education seminar three years ago. The seminar was called “Capturing Kids’ Hearts,” and the main message that stuck with him was: “If you have a child’s heart, you have their head.” Smigiel said he hadn’t thought of it that way before.

“I always thought I was a good earth science teacher, and I did care about my students. But – I hate to say it – there was a time when, if a really bad student didn’t show up for class, I was sort of happy. They were a disruption to the class. Then this seminar made me think: maybe these students are missing my class because of something in their lives. So this helped me to personalize education.”

Smigiel went on to become the leadership teacher for a group of 110 kids. Norview adopted the Capturing Kids’ Hearts curriculum, and added to it. The program emphasizes character, communication and community service. The school’s initial leadership course started with at-risk freshmen – those with grade point averages below 3.0.

“There were such huge gains in the kids’ grades and attitudes,” Smigiel noted. “Discipline referrals dropped, and more kids were getting promoted. Norview had a 38.9 percent promotion rate the year before we did that. In one year we jumped up to 55 percent.

“Last year, we doubled the program – we added 200 kids – and we added another teacher. We had a 70 percent promotion rate with those kids.”

This year, every freshman at Norview takes the leadership course and there are four teachers.

“The students do a speech called ‘About Myself,’ ” Smigiel said. “They pour their hearts out and tell us all about their lives. Sometimes it’s so depressing to hear these stories of struggle. We talk a lot about resiliency, about being able to bounce back when something negative happens.”

As Virginia Teacher of the Year, Smigiel won $8,500 and qualified for National Teacher of the Year honors, an awards program sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the ING Foundation that will be announced in April.

For Smigiel, however, the true rewards of the profession are manifest in the learning and accomplishments of his students, which is why he invited four of them to join him on stage after receiving the state award so they could be recognized as well.

But what of the possibility of leaving teaching behind to run for office? Smigiel has no immediate timetable in mind, but he does foresee a day when he might run for some local office – one “that would allow me to be an advocate for Norfolk and for education.”

Smigiel said he values the education he received at Old Dominion, and fondly remembers the classes he took under Bill Whitehurst. He also enjoyed his stint as student body president.

Another benefit of his ODU experience came when he met Shannon Walsh, also a member of the class of 2000. They were married in 2003. Smigiel and Walsh, who is the marketing and membership director at Norfolk Yacht and Country Club, have a 21-month-old daughter, Devin.