French 2

About me

A little about myself- My name is Kristin Smith. This will be my 9th year here at East High School. I received my teaching certification at UMSL where I earned my bachelor’s degrees in International Business, Business Management, and French. I started school for business, but couldn’t shake my love for French which is how I got into teaching.

I have lived in St. Louis all of my life- growing up in Baden and Castle Point. Eventually I moved to North County where I attended Ritenour High School where I was involved in FBLA, Choir, NHS, French NHS, and football… yes girls can play football too. I did all of this while working a 40 hour job. My mother was a single mom and I had to help support our family. I am no stranger to long nights and a lot of hard work. With a lot of blood, sweat, and tears I managed to graduate with honors, eighth in my class.

I wish I could tell you that things get easier in college, but that would be a lie. I pursued multiple degrees in college and then graduate school for my teaching certification, so the hours were long. I guess you could say that I don’t always do things the easy way. Work didn’t get much better either because I had to take on a second job to put myself through college; usually working more than 60 hours per week. The point of this story is that when there is a will, there is a way.

These days I spend my free time with the three loves of my life Tavion, Katana, and Kai (my kids). It is a full time job in of itself, but they are my biggest reward.