Part of an ongoing series featuring the teachers nominated for Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Teacher of the Year honors.

Art is everywhere around you.

In her elementary art class at St. Francis Xavier, Ashley Smith is working to teach her students that art isn’t just a painting on the wall or a good drawing, but that everything they use and touch is a form of art.

“I love teaching art because I want them all to realize that everything around them is art,” Smith said. “From the table you sit at to the shoes you have on your feet, the basketball you throw on the basketball court, some artist created that along the way for you to have. I think it is so important.”

Smith has a background in interior design and entered education in order to find a schedule that was more conducive to family life when she began having children. She started by teaching art at Beechwood Elementary and then took a break for a couple years before returning to teach at St. Francis.

She is in her second year teaching art at St. Francis and her fourth at the school overall, and is her school’s nominee for the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce’s Elementary Teacher of the Year.

“It is an honor to be nominated and picked by your peers,” Smith said. “That is a great honor, especially for an art teacher. I don’t teach math, science and social studies. I teach art. I know to some it’s not as important, but sometimes it shapes how people think. It shapes how kids turn out.”

When students first come to her classroom they may not think art is cool or that they aren’t artist, but by showing them how prevalent art is in their lives Young works to unlock the artist hidden in every child. Sometimes that requires spending considerable one-on-one time with a student in order to find their potential.

Then during the school year each student is given the opportunity to show off his or her accomplishments with an annual art show.

“It’s the creativity and seeing kids that are not really great at something else come into my room and realize they are artist,” Smith said of what she enjoys about teaching. “I love to see their little faces. I love to see their faces light up when they create something and they complete something. It is beautiful. Just filling paper with color creates something beautiful.”

She said teaching art makes her happy and she is glad her life led her into the profession.

“I really didn’t know it would take me where it has, and I would love it as much as I do,” Smith said. “I think God leads us to where we are supposed to be and I think he led me here.”

The Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce will choose one elementary and one secondary teacher of the year at the chamber luncheon Feb. 21. The winner of each award will receive $1,000 from Ameristar Casino and the runner-up for each award will receive $500 from Mutual Credit Union.

“It would be honor, especially with all the teachers in Warren County who have been chosen,” Smith said. “You know that they have made such an influence on their peers’ lives and the children’s lives in the classroom.”