Rebecca Smith rises to the occasion

Meet Rebecca Smith, a busy North Idaho mom who cares about her community and knows how to get things done.

Generation:

I identify as an Xennial — analog childhood, digital adulthood.

Career and community involvement:

I’ve been teaching literature at Gonzaga University since 2012. I usually teach a course framed around identity or the “search for self,” a topic that resonates with adolescents who are at a stage of life in which they’re trying to figure out who they really are. I love leading students through discussion of complex texts and helping them to become better thinkers and writers as they’re also processing who they want to be in this world.

My biggest community commitments are to public education and poverty, which are closely connected. I am passionate about young people getting the tools they need to take them wherever they want to go in life, and especially for our most vulnerable kids to have the opportunities that come with an excellent education. My current involvements include CDAIDE, Growing the STEM and Raising Idaho Standards for Education. This year I’ve also served on two Coeur d’Alene School District committees, Boundary Review and School Start Times.

Parental status:

Our three kids span elementary, middle and high school. This wide spread was easier in the beginning (we never had three kids under 5), but it also feels like we’ve been doing this forever and we’re not even close to done! I like that we got precious time with each of them as the only baby/toddler in the beginning and that they will slowly leave the nest. The middle is complicated, with everyone in a different phase.

1. How are things going with CDAIDE at this time?

Wow, CDAIDE — which serves people who work in the restaurant and hospitality industry — has been BUSY. It is hard to see so many in our community hurting, as they have been laid off or had significantly reduced hours because of temporary restaurant closures. It has also been encouraging to be able to provide needed relief (in the form of paying for their rent or groceries) and to see new volunteers and supporters coming together to serve. We’ve hired our first-ever executive director, Michael Murray, and I can’t wait to see the developments his leadership brings. We’re also starting to have conversations about how, once we get past the COVID crisis, CDAIDE might support restaurant and hospitality workers in new ways that extend beyond the relationships, connection to resources and emergency financial support that will always be at the backbone of what we do. How can we, in addition, proactively make the most meaningful and long-term impact on the lives of local workers (and thereby the industry they support)? Relationships are at the heart of CDAIDE, so that will be a focus of any new ventures we undertake.

2. What motivates you to be so involved in your community?

I started to get involved in my community as a coping strategy when I was a young mom writing my PhD dissertation. Both activities — raising babies and a three-year research project — are all-consuming, but can also feel isolating and you don’t always see the fruits of your labor on a daily basis. I wanted to do something where I could meet people and do something to make a tangible impact, and I got involved with helping to start a charter school in my Baltimore neighborhood. It was very rewarding to be part of offering community-driven educational choice to children from challenged backgrounds. After that I started a nonprofit that focused on advocating for better schools, safety and connectedness among families in downtown Baltimore. And with that I was hooked. I have found that I really love the process of creation and bringing the right people together to fill a community need. I am passionate about service, but I also know that I gain as much or more from giving than those I aim to benefit, and I think we’re designed that way. Our own problems — we all have them — seem much smaller when we put our focus on helping others.

3. What are a few things you’ve realized or been surprised by during the COVID-19 pandemic?

I’ve been struck by what a different experience each person and family is having. Some are fighting to meet their basic needs or to save their small business. Others have made positive shifts in work practices that will become permanent, such as adapting to new forms of technology. Some have felt lonely, isolated and depressed. Others have loved the time to slow down and reconnect with those closest to them. My family full of busy extroverts have been rather miserable shut off from school, work and friends, and are excited to get back to their real lives. That’s very true of me, but I have also enjoyed early morning walks with my husband and pup (no carpool, kids to get ready, or teaching to rush off to) and less coordination to have dinner as a family (no sports, activities and meetings). What has not been a surprise at all is how much our community has come together to support those in financial need right now. The outpouring of support has been incredible, even as many of those giving are struggling on some level themselves.

4. What is something people would be surprised to learn about you?

I grew up in the coal-mining town of Gillette, Wyo., and met my husband of 22 years on an opposing high school debate team there. We’ve lived in every time zone in the continental U.S. — Wyoming, Rhode Island, Texas, Michigan, Maryland, Idaho. It’s been quite a journey.

5. If you could spend a week doing anything at all, where would you go and what would you do?

My greatest unrealized ambition is to write. I’ve taken some semesters off teaching to do this, but find that it’s hard to develop the momentum I need while also engaged in the work of being a mom to three (very expressive!) children. Some can do it, but I long for uninterrupted focus. I would love to spend a week somewhere beautiful, by water, alone with my thoughts. Maybe I could make enough progress on a project to continue during my crazy-hectic days, or something to come back to when my youngest leaves.