CHURDAN, Iowa – Paton Churdan is a small, rural district with a principal who shows her students every day what it means to be strong. Annie Smith is the latest educator to be awarded the Golden Apple.

As principal, she interacts with all students at Paton Churdan, Pre-K through 12.

“I love it. I mean it really is so good,” Smith said. “One, it keeps things interesting all the time. And two, there are so many special things about each level, so you really have the special parts of all of them.”

She’s been part of the district for more than two decades as a teacher, guidance counselor, and now principal for the past 13 years.

“It’s such a great profession to be able to do what you love each day,” Smith said, “which is just to help other people be their best self. Whether it’s students or adults, so that’s a pretty unique thing.”

It’s obvious from students that Mrs. Smith cares, but something you wouldn’t be able to pick up on as easily is what she’s dealing with every day.

“I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis years ago,” Smith said.

Multiple sclerosis or MS is a disease that affects Mrs. Smith’s central nervous system by interrupting the communication between her brain and body, but not interfering with her relationships with students.

“She just wants them to have success no matter what they do,” Superintendent Brian Johnson said. “And even if you know she’s down, she still has that smile on for those kids, and she brings her best for them every single day, and it’s inspiring.”

“We are really big here on resiliency,” Smith said. “And we have a motto that I think probably every student and staff knows here which is ‘you can do hard things’ because everybody has challenges. So, I think I get to be able to actually walk the walk and not just talk the talk when I tell kiddos I know it’s hard sometimes and some days we’re going to have good days and some days we’re not going to have good days, and we just keep chugging forward.”

It’s that example that made students nominate their principal for the Golden Apple. A recognition of Mrs. Smith’s unwavering resilience and leadership.

“Mrs. Smith is what holds us all together,” one student said. 

“Mrs. Smith is the heartbeat, not only of the school but of the entire district,” Superintendent Johnson said. 

“All of my values as a teacher have come from her. The relationships with the kiddos and making learning fun,” Miranda Steinkamp, first grade teacher at Paton Churdan, said. “She really has made the quite the family here at Paton Churdan, and I feel like she’s the heart of it.”

The heart of a small district and a principal who makes a big impact.

“It’s fun to be able to wake up each day knowing that’s what I get to come to do,” Smith said. “There are so many people in this building that deserve this just as much as I do. And to be able to be recognized is really great and just gives me motivation to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Smith says she’s had four students, including Steinkamp, who have graduated from Paton Churdan and become teachers in the district. She just hired her fifth one to start teaching next fall.

View the full interview with Mrs. Smith below: