Secret to success in Smith family is Motlow College
It’s obvious, though, she and her husband, James, have done something right in raising their five children: Janey, 23, Becky, 22, Sandy, 20, and twins Brent and Trent, who are 18.
Janey and Becky graduated from Motlow College and are students at Tennessee Tech. Sandy is attending Motlow now, and Brent and Trent, seniors at Warren County High School, have taken calculus classes at Motlow and plan to enroll this fall.
Planning for a future that didn’t include college was not a debatable option at the Smith house.
“Education is a requirement,” Trent said as his brothers and sisters nodded their heads in agreement.
“Our parents believe in education,” said Janey. “Neither of them went to college, but they decided we would.”
And as parents, the Smiths are proud of their children.
“They work hard, and they enjoy learning,” Sue said. “In the 1940s, my mother went to a business college, and she always encouraged us to go to college. I just passed on her advice to my own children. My sister also encouraged them.”
Sue’s sister is Martha Kirby, a kindergarten teacher at Irving College Elementary. The Smith siblings count their Aunt Martha and parents among those who have inspired them to excel.
Janey was the first of the Smith children to attend Motlow on the prestigious Presidential Scholarship. After graduating in 1999, she transferred to Tennessee Tech, where she is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in engineering and recently began working on a master’s in environmental engineering.
Becky soon followed her sister’s steps to Motlow, also on a Presidential Scholarship. After graduating last year, she transferred to Tennessee Tech as a microbiology major. Becky said her greatest influence at the college was Jackie Koss, who teaches biology classes and helped Becky choose microbiology as her major course of study.
Sandy, a sophomore at Motlow and the third sibling to receive a Presidential Scholarship, has the benefit of her sisters’ experiences. She said they tell her which teachers to take and share survival skills. The only glitch in the pass-it-along system happened when she took a class recommended by Janey and didn’t like the instructor.
This fall, Brent and Trent plan to enroll at Motlow to pursue associate degrees and then transfer. Trent, who is quick to point out his ACT scores are higher than any of his siblings’ scores, hopes to be the fourth member of his family to receive a Presidential Scholarship. Brent said he will apply for a work-scholarship and plans to pursue degrees in physics and aerospace. Trent is undecided but is considering history, civil engineering or design drafting.