A Lifetime Legacy of Service – Michael Smith

We’ve been featuring ReServists who have served in the military, in honor of Veterans Day. Read this article about ReServist Michael Smith, who currently serves at a Brooklyn middle school as a Success Mentor. You can read our article about ReServist Muriel Watkins here.

A Lifetime Legacy of Service – Michael Smith

Michael Smith, a ReServist, is now on his second “tour” as a Success Mentor, a program in collaboration with Mayor Bloomberg’s office to help kids who are chronically absent improve their attendance. He served as a Marine in the Vietnam War as a member of the Military Police Unit.  A native of North Carolina, he served in the Mediterranean Sea with the 6th Fleet as a Lance Corporal. Serving in that part of the world allowed him to visit places like Italy, France and Greece.

Michael met his wife, Irma, also a ReServist at ReServe’s national office, prior to his military service and eventually married her. They settled in Brooklyn and have been living there for 39 years.

ReServist Michael Smith

Michael, whose primary career after serving in the military and attending college was as a business analyst, found out about ReServe through his Irma. He was first assigned to the NYC Dept. of Homeless Services as a procurement specialist, and is now a Success Mentor at M.S. 571.

Michael, who has two children and three grandchildren, says the students at his middle school are the reason he wants to give back. On his own initiative, Michael arranges to meet his students at M.S. 571 for lunch and believes that the dialogues he has with his students are key to their success.

“We discuss their future, and seeing their faces brighten up is rewarding. The whole experience is rewarding,” he said. When trouble comes up, especially when they are absent, Michael contacts their parents, and encourages the students to do better. After his interventions, “Their attendance improved. Whether or not I had a direct impact on that, I don’t know,” he said. “Some of them had circumstances outside their control, and they do the best they can, and you do the best you can.”

Since some of the students he works with have special needs, he often has parents who want their children to go to a special school, and the parents seek Michael out for advice. Faculty and staff look to Michael and other Success Mentors for advice as well, even on students they aren’t necessarily assigned to. Each ReServist Success Mentor is assigned to 20 students but by the end of the year, reach many more who migrate to them. “Our motto is mentor every child,” he said.

Michael says he sees middle schoolers as being in a special kind of transition period. “They’re coming from elementary school to spend three years before going to high school. Once they transition, there’s an important change. They’re going into adulthood,” he said. “The middle school age is extremely important. They’re moving from the stage when they are being watched by parents into a stage where they must have some responsibility for themselves.”

Michael says that in this stage, students need the presence of older adults to be role models for them, and to listen to them. “They need someone they can share things with. Obviously they need to build a trust, it’s something you have to be mindful of.”

Michael encourages those who are considering mentoring should do so, but with an amiable spirit. “I would caution anyone going into it that they shouldn’t get so much into lecturing the students. What you want to do is listen to them, build that trust with them.” For Michael, trust building means listening and bring surprises: “They’re always looking for a little something, a bag of chips, rather than just a lecture.”