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Take Five

Drew Elliott Smith (Bay Area ’99) joined Teach For America after glimpsing an ad in National Geographic while volunteering in Nicaragua. As a corps member, he taught third and fifth grade in Oakland, Calif., then remained teaching for a third year before venturing abroad again to research education in Southeast Asia, India, Southern Africa, and Nicaragua, where he started a bilingual education program. After only a year back in the United States, Smith was elected to the school board in his hometown of North Plainfield, N.J., in May. Fresh off the campaign trail, Smith talks politics with One Day.

By Karen B. Manahan

ONE DAY: You were abroad for several years. How did you reestablish yourself in North Plainfield?
DES: People know that I’ve never stopped working for the community, and my focus on education has been strong for the last 10 years. . . . Last year I started going to the school board meetings because a friend of mine had been appointed the year before. I didn’t say a word for a year; I just sat in the meetings, wrote a lot, listened a lot.

ONE DAY: What do you hope to accomplish?
DES: It’s on the schools to dig deep and say, “Look at our staff, curriculum, and what we’re doing to make sure it fits with the community we’re trying to serve.” Community controls schools. I’m not a school board member to push my aspirations on the town. Part of my job is to make sure that I’m a voice—one of seven voices—of the community.

ONE DAY: What was one factor that helped you win?
DES: Our campaign was so youth-led. We had young people mobilized, volunteering to register other youth to vote in the cafeteria, in front of schools giving out fliers, going door-to-door. The average age of our campaign workers was 19 or 20. . . . [Also] I would look people in the eye and say, “I don’t want just your vote. If you’re going to vote for me, I expect to see you once a month.” We were trying to build a community movement.

ONE DAY: Any advice for other alumni who might run for office?
DES: Teach For America alumni definitely have something that those who haven’t taught don’t. Whether it’s 2 years [in the classroom] or 3 or 10 and still going, there is experience there. How many politicians have taught in an inner- city, rural, or under-resourced school? So few. That’s huge for school board, for mayor, for city council. . . . Deeply value those two years. They give you more perspective than 95 percent of people involved in politics.

ONE DAY: And finally, what’s on your reading list?
DES: June Jordan’s Poetry for the People. It’s a teacher’s guide to creating amazing poetry classes.