Choir teacher, Lorraine Smith, announced that she will be leaving her teaching position to take up the open counselor position at FHN. Smith has been a teacher at North for 10 years and had directed choirs for 20 years in total. She has decided to move on from her position as the choir teacher and to take on the open counselor position at North.

“This was only my second year in choir, so I am super sad to see Smith move upstairs to counseling, but I’m glad she’s moving on to a job that’ll be better for her,” junior choir member Skyeler Knuuttila said. “She’s put a lot of work to make this program what it is and I’m kind of excited to see what this new choir teacher will add. But Smith will always be missed in the choir room.”

Smith has always had dreams of becoming a counselor, but she put her plans on hold when she made the move to St. Louis from Ohio for her husband to attend Chiropractic school. Smith aspires to be able to help and provide assistance to students and families in a more personal way that is more one-on-one. She also is excited to be able to work with a team and and problem solve with those people.

“I’m excited about helping kids figure out what they’re good at, and helping them figuring out how to be successful, and providing resources and just being multifaceted in the ways I get to help kids” Smith said.

Interviews for a new choir teacher have already been conducted and a candidate has been chosen for the choir teacher position next year.

“I think the transition with the person we selected will be pretty easy,” Band Director Rob Stegeman said. “I think [the chosen candidate and Smith] are very similar people. They obviously bring a different skillset, but their ideology of what a choir program is and how that is run is really similar.”

During her time at North, Smith has directed the choirs who have sang at athletic games, national competitions and various times through the year at events like Black and Gold Day. Smith and the choirs have also made an impact on the community by singing with the middle school choirs, at a suicide prevention program, with the St. Peters Choral Arts Group and even a grand reopening at a McDonald’s last year.

“I’m going miss the group dynamic of having kids together,” Smith said. “In counseling, there’s a lot of one-on-one relationships and you see those kids one at a time, whereas, in the classroom, you have a family feel with a group of students. Especially when you’re with that same group of kids for multiple years.”