Connie Smejkal (pictured) and Jeff McQuarrie were selected by the Centralia College Foundation as the 2016-17 Exceptional Staff award winners.
Connie Smejkal and Jeff McQuarrie (pictured) were selected by the Centralia College Foundation as the 2016-17 Exceptional Staff award winners.
The Centralia College Foundation has selected two individuals to receive the 2016-17 Exceptional Faculty Awards. Connie Smejkal and Jeff McQuarrie were selected for their commitment and excellence in their subject areas and their participation in campus activities, according to a press release from the college.
Smejkal came to Centralia College in 2006 with no previous teaching experience. She began as an office assistant and was promoted twice — first to program coordinator and then to dean of workforce and continuing education.
She then finished her master’s degree after being spurred by her success and began teaching classes part-time.
“I caught the teaching bug,” she said. “I loved the classroom and watching students learn and grow. I was hooked.”
When a full-time teaching position opened, Smejkal applied and soon found herself on the tenure track. She took a one-year break from teaching to serve as the assistant dean of the bachelor’s degree programs, and then later returned to teaching full-time, according to the release.
She currently teaches a variety of business and accounting courses. Her favorite class is human relations in the workplace.
“This class helps students work on their interpersonal skills,” Smejkal said in the release. “Since the course is required of all workforce students, I appreciate the diversity in the classroom. The course is engaging, contains material everyone can relate to, and provides a lot of opportunities for fun learning experiences for students.”
As for Jeff McQuarrie, he spent much of his early career in business. He was the president and marketing director of a fishing resort in Alaska and had his own video production company, but McQuarrie wanted more.
“Although both jobs were fun, I didn’t feel I was really making the world a better place,” he said in the release. “I think we all have a deep craving to change people’s lives for the better, and teaching does that.”
McQuarrie said he has kept in touch with students from the first class he taught at Centralia College in 2011.
“I’ve lived all over the country, but Lewis County people are special,” he said.
McQuarrie started teaching communications part-time first at Centralia College East and then at both campuses, according to the release. He now teaches almost all of the communications studies courses available at the college, which includes public speaking, introduction to mass media and debate. His favorite class is advanced public speaking.
“That class attracts some gifted characters, who really know how to make learning fun,” he said. “Most days, when I leave that class, my jaw hurts from laughing so much.”
He said it was nice to see a new student who is “frightened to death on the first day” in an introductory public speaking course and then see them take the advanced course.
“Guiding them from ‘frightened to fanatic’ about public speaking is one of the biggest joys I’ve ever felt,” McQuarrie said.
