Olivia Smith is a new teacher this year at Rice who guides students through various art classes. She has previously taught at an elementary school as a behavioral interventionist. Despite being a new teacher at Rice, she has connected with a lot of students and has created a safe environment in her classroom for students to enjoy being in. Many students comment on their appreciation for her as such a welcoming teacher and person.
As a person, she is deeply rooted with the presence of art in her life. She grew up surrounded by an artistic family, such as her mother and grandmother, who have inspired her to have passion for expressing herself through art. Outside of school she maintains a calm lifestyle that includes being outside in the sun, reading strange books, listening to music, true crime podcasts, and exploring various arts with poetic undertones. She states, “Everything inspires me, the world, nature, just everything, and my family.”
What is your favorite medium of art?
“Good question. I work with a lot of different mediums because I’m an art teacher, so I need to know how to do as much as possible. I think my favorite would be printmaking, specifically block printing, and also film photography.”
What makes you passionate about art?
“A lot of things, I love that art captures the human experience and what it means to just be a living, breathing person. I love that it’s kind of like a universal language that we all can speak, and that it helps people kind of represent themselves in a different way. I feel like I’m a pretty soft spoken person, and I keep to myself. So I think art kind of is my voice for my inner thoughts and feelings.”
What has been your favorite experience teaching so far?
“I worked with elementary schoolers for my first few years of teaching, and I was a special educator as well as an art teacher, and I had one student who had autism who really could only communicate through making art. So I think connecting with that student was probably one of my most cherished moments. I hope to make students feel comfortable being creative and being themselves because I had teachers that did that for me, and that was how I really thrived as a student.”
What’s one of the biggest or most important things you’ve learned while being a teacher?
“I’ve learned that students are also just human beings, which, of course, I knew before. But the more I work with students and kids, the more I realize that they’re not much different than me. And I feel like that’s important when you’re building connections with students is just acknowledging that they are a person like you. I think that there are a lot of teachers who kind of lump students in like these categories and expect that everyone is the same or learns the same, or experiences school the same way. But I don’t think that’s true. I think if you look at people as individuals and as their own person, then it’s easier to teach them.”
If you could give any advice to your high school self, what would it be?
“I’d give her a lot of advice. I think my biggest piece of advice would be to slow down. I think I was really excited to grow up, and now that I’m an adult, I wish that I soaked up my time more. I think I just was so ready, like to be done with school, or like to live independently, that I didn’t take things as seriously. So I guess, like in my classwork, specifically, I wish that I slowed down and just lived in the moment, rather than just trying to get through everything as fast as I could.”
What advice would you give to the average high school student?
“Take time to get to know yourself and love yourself or who you are, because now, now’s the time to do it. Learn your boundaries, learn what you love, and think about your values. So when you go into your adult life, you’re prepared to advocate for yourself and do things that are important to you and take care of yourself in that life.”
