JUSTIN SMITH Life coming back around

BY PHIL RIDDLE

Justin Smith’s life has come full circle. In many ways.

After leaving Bryan, Texas to accept a football scholarship at Tarleton, he has returned to the Brazos Valley city as a middle school principal.

He once helped build his family’s Habitat for Humanity home. Now he is on the organization’s board of directors.

He credits Tarleton teachers and coaches with the chance to reach his professional goals, and now is a decorated educator himself.

The circular track’s first lap came as Smith, a highly regarded offensive lineman in high school, joined Coach Todd Whitten’s Texans, becoming an integral part of three straight Lone Star Conference championship teams.

“That’s where I learned to work,” Smith said of his time on the Tarleton football team. “That’s kind of a skill you can’t go without if you want to be successful. You have to roll up your sleeves, be on time and be ready to do your job.”

Besides a vital work ethic, Smith credits Tarleton and Whitten with teaching him to appreciate the results of that effort.

“I learned what good looks like and what excellent looks like,” he said.

Beginning his career as an educator, Smith worked for a year in Temple, then joined the faculty opening up the then-brand new Heath High School in Rockwall, adding coaching duties in football, track, basketball and cross country.

Learning what it took to achieve excellence served him well, as he was named Teacher of the Year in two districts— Rockwall, and later upon his return to Bryan.

“It had everything to do with Tarleton,” Smith said of his professional success. “Being on the football team was all about excellence, about winning championships. They taught us to be men. The conversations we had on a daily basis was all about what can you do to be a better man.

“That didn’t stop on the football field. It was the same in our classes here. We had great professors who took time to invest in us as people. You had a relationship with your professors.

“I said then, ‘whenever I go and wherever I go, I’m going to take that with me.’”

When he returned to Bryan 10 years ago, the details of his youth returned vividly to his memory. Growing up in what he called “humble beginnings,” Smith said, “It was a story of faith. My mom was a devout Christian and she raised us like that.”

His mother had hidden some pictures in a closet in their home, he recalls, pictures her sons thought she should use to decorate the walls.

“She said, ‘Those are for our new house,’” he remembered. “We got excited. When are we moving? She said we don’t have the house yet, but we’re going to get one.” Her faith paid off as the Bryan chapter of Habitat for Humanity built them a home, what was called a blitz house, in just five days.

“They collected about 100 volunteers and all kinds of resources,” Smith said. “Since then, Habitat has been a huge part of my life. I am now on the board of directors for (Bryan-College Station Habitat for Humanity). That’s just a part of giving back to those who gave to me.”

That attitude of giving back, of life going in circles, is evident in his credo on educating young people.

“The best thing we can do for our kids is to have them focus on their goals,” he said. “If that goal is post-secondary success, you give them all the tools they need to do that. It has to do with preparing them for life.”