A salute to Sarge Marge
Students at Madison Academy salute Smith also known as Sarge Marge.
Margie Swafford Smith, also known as Margie, but mostly known as Sarge Marge.
Smith is currently the Director of School Alumni Affairs at Madison Academy, where she helps with fundraising, but she’s also been an elementary school teacher, librarian, cheerleading coach, director of development and established and sponsored the Anchor Club for the upper school.
Her office is covered with awards and pictures of former students.
“They put their picture up and I can’t move it because if I move it they know it,” Smith said.
So who is Smith and why is she called Sarge Marge?
“I’ve taught everything from kindergarten to 12th grade, but mainly history,” she said. “And all the alumni reunions and then I help with the fundraiser, and whatever needs to be done I just do it.”
If you’ve graduated from Madison Academy, she probably knows you, your mother and your children.
“She basically got the name Sarg from her trips,” said Dr. Robert Burton, Madison Academy president. “She’s in charge and everybody knows it. She keeps everybody in line, from grandparents on down. If you’re late, she will leave you, and she tells them that.”
Smith has been an educator for 45 years. 2011 marks her 40th year as a faculty member at Madison Academy. She knows more about the school, it’s history and people than anyone else.
I came from a little place in east Tennessee,” Smith said. “And you’re influenced by those teachers you had. I just loved it. I love of people.”
As Smith walked down the halls of the private school, she was greeted by students and teachers alike. She even received salutes from some of the younger students in the elementary school.
“The school would definitely not be the same without her,” said Zac Smith, a junior at the school. “Everything that gets done is because of her. And she’s one of those kind of people that doesn’t wait for anyone else to do it, she just gets out there to does it.”
Margaret Clouser, a school secretary, said Smith’s demeanor may be pleasant, but if something needs to be done, she doesn’t mind ordering someone to do it.
“She’s sort of like our sergeant around her,” Clouser said. “She gets things done, but the great thing about it, is that she won’t ask you to do something she isn’t willing to do herself. She’ll ask her aides to pick up trash, but she’ll pick it up too. There’s only one of her and they’ll never be another.”
The Tennessee native is best known at the school for taking students on field trips. In April, she will take fifth graders to Williamsburg, Va., and Washington, D.C. to study colonial and federal government for eight days. Grandparents, parents, teachers and students have traveled with her locally, nationally and internationally over the years.
“Like our Savior, my earlier years were influenced by the three cornerstones of our community-doctor, teacher and minister,” Smith said. “My calling to be an educator has been a blessing to me everyday. If I had to choose my profession today, I’d be an educator.”
