Behind the success of Rocky students is a team of educators, and in this case, they are also a team! Antoinette Smith and Lucas Smith have been married for seven years and have been together at Rocky for six years.
Antoinette is a science teacher, and Lucas is a dean–their two distinct careers contribute to the school’s culture as they are driven to make the Rocky community a more positive place by teaching and supporting students.
As of September 1st, they have been married for seven years, and outside of school, they have two young children.
For the last seven years, Mrs. Smith has taught a range of science classes, including chemistry, medical terminology, earth system sciences, health sciences, and biology. She is also the co-advisor for HOSA, a club at Rocky specializing in the health sciences. She graduated from CSU in 2018 with a degree in Math and Science education.
After five years as a math teacher teaching algebra and geometry, Mr. Smith switched to being a counselor at Wellington Middle High School, only to return to Rocky as a dean in 2024. He graduated from CSU in 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Math. One of his goals as a teacher was working with students on a personal level, and he was just good at math, so it made sense.
One of the most rewarding parts of the job, they both stated, is working with students and getting to know them on a personal level. Mrs. Smith said that, in terms of science, helping students through classroom challenges was a positive aspect for her.
“I think that the types of conversations that we get to have with students are really meaningful and significant, and I’m thankful I get to have those conversations,” Mr. Smith said.
Motivation plays a significant role in encouraging students to engage. They said that motivation comes from observing or realizing something in the long term.
“No one can force someone to make a decision even if it’s in their best interest,” Mr. Smith said.
“Students want to do well, or they do well when they can, and so providing a safe environment for them to fail and to succeed, and then a supportive environment for them to like even ask for what they need in order to be successful, and I think all of that happens through building relationships with students in your class,” she added.
One of the things they discussed was their schedules. Mrs. Smith teaches the same science classes day in and day out, but Mr. Smith’s day is different as a dean..
The stories students share with them never cease to amaze them. The notion, “you don’t know what someone’s going through,” stands out to them. Change and growth are not linear, and Mr. Smith firmly believes that is true for students.
Though they don’t always match, they always manage to show Lobo spirit through dressing up and taking part in school events, such as attending the assemblies or going to games. Both of them feel it’s important to support Rocky and student activities.
However, they both struggle with work-life balance, which presents challenges with consistently being around one another and knowing everything that goes on. They’re in the same work environment, so rather than couples who come home from different jobs, they know everything about the workspace.
“[It] opens you up to being more critical of each other because you can’t hide things from each other, so if you make a mistake at work or if you have a bad day, it’s easier to notice that,” Mr. Smith said.
At the same time, there are perks of being a couple in the same workplace because they can share more; they can work together to help students out and model positive relationships for students who look up to them. Mr. Smith says that his wife inspires him by how she balances being a mom, a professional, and a wife, as she handles it with a lot of poise.
Mrs. Smith ended by saying that, “…life is full of a lot of hard things, and at school you get to practice handling them and figuring out how you’re going to handle them. So don’t view hard circumstances or hard situations always as a negative but jump into those head on and use this as an opportunity to fail too because you’re in a safe place and you get to learn things here and sometimes that comes through making mistakes.”
