Mrs. Jennifer Smith

Mrs. Smith is very excited about this 2024-2025 school year here at Northside High! This is her 10th year at NSHS! She has been dancing for over twenty-nine years and is looking forward to sharing her knowledge and passion for dance with you.

Mrs. Smith was born and raised in Durham, NC where she trained at two local dance studios for 16 years. Her mother was a professional ballerina in the Pennsylvania Ballet Company and she is the one who got her started in dance. She attended Riverside High School where she also trained in dance. It was her dance teacher here, Mrs. Middleton-Hopkins, that inspired her to become a dance teacher today!

She attended East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. Her student teaching internship was at North Pitt High School in Bethel, NC. She enjoyed her time there with their students. Mrs. Smith graduated Magna Cum Laude from ECU with a BFA in Dance Education and a K-12 Dance Licensure in 2015. 

During her time at NHS, Mrs. Smith has choreographed 8 musicals, produced and choreographed 17 dance program shows, and founded/directed the Dancing Royals, Northside's Dance Team, from 2016 to 2018. She established the NHS chapter of the National Honor Society for Dance Arts (NHSDA). She has choreographed for the Marching Monarchs Marching Band and visual ensemble (color guard/dance team) since 2021. She was awarded Northside High's Arts Teacher of the Year Award four times in 2015-2016, 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2020-2021. She planned, facilitated, and hosted the first annual All County Dance Event in collaboration with Richlands High and Clyde Erwin Elementary School in January 2024 and looks forward to producing this event each year. Mrs. Smith is introducing a new event, OCS Community Dance Day, this fall in September 2024 with the plans of hosting it annually in the future! Mrs. Smith began taking the proficient and advanced dancers to DPA (Dance Performance Adjudication) in January 2023, and they attend the event every year. NHS dancers have also performed at the Evening of Dance fundraising event for the Onslow Chapter of Ainsley's Angels in 2017 and 2022. NHS plans on performing in this event every chance they can.

Mrs. Smith is in her 8th year with Swansboro and Emerald Isle Dance Studios, where she teaches three times a week after school. There she teaches middle and high school students hiphop, jazz, contemporary/modern, ballet and pointe. She danced professionally with the KT Collective Dance Company based in Durham, NC in 2017-2018 season. 

Mrs. Smith lives in Jacksonville with her husband and their 2 sons, Jaxson and Oliver, and their two dogs, Dakota, and Jynx! She loves to travel the world and has visited 7 countries and been on 3 continents! Ask her about her travels and what opportunities there are for non-school-sponsored travel!