Heart of the City

Sedrick Smith, Ph.D., ’05, M.Ed. ’15, has gone by many names. Growing up in Southwest Baltimore, he was Lil Smitty. As a teacher at his alma mater, Baltimore City College, he was just Smitty. Now, returning to the school as principal after earning his doctorate, he is Dr. Smith.

“I’m not trying to big time anyone or puff my chest,” Smith said with a wide smile, donned head to toe in City black and orange, including the frames of his glasses. “But I wanted to make it clear that I wasn’t coming back the same, that I have learned a lot.”

From a young age, Smith prioritized academics. His working-class parents (his dad a roofer, his mom a baker) never went to college, but they were committed to him going. He recalled feeling like an outlier in what he calls “the poorest zip code in Baltimore.”

“My friends would say, ‘Little Smitty, go home. Go study,’” he remembered. “They were protective. I wanted to hang with those guys, but I was never that kid. I had both parents at home, and they cared. That’s the thing. As a teacher, that is still very much the thing.”

Smith is quick to credit the women in his life, including his fifth grade teacher who inspired him to think beyond his neighborhood bubble as well as his predecessor as City College principal, Cindy Harcum, who taught him 11th grade English. “She never had to yell,” he said. “She taught me you can lead with grace and humility, and that will command respect.”

Smith arrived at Loyola from Syracuse University in 2003 to study history closer to home. As a transfer student from a giant, secular school, Smith was nervous. “I do practice Christianity, but I’m not an every Sunday kind of guy,” he said. “But Jesuits do a really good job of not forcing their beliefs on you. It’s very mission-driven, very inclusive.”

He was so taken that he returned to Loyola to get his M.Ed. in Literacy. An adolescent literacy class with Afra Ahmed Hersi, Ph.D., now dean of the School of Education, hooked him. For his capstone project, he conducted a study on Black boys in advanced programs and presented the throughlines to their success.

“School has always been my happy place,” he said. “I found that spark again at Loyola. It was Dean Hersi who said you have to keep going with this work.”

And he has—for 21 years in Baltimore City Public Schools and counting. This fall, he will leave his position as principal of Fallstaff Elementary/Middle School to be principal of City College.

“I’m walking into a school that doesn't need an overhaul,” he said. “We need tweaks.” Some of those include using a more data-driven approach, supporting the growing Latinx population, mentoring Black students to take advanced classes, and starting a training program for student-athletes.

He proudly rattles off City alumni (former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke, former Maryland Governor and Baltimore Mayor William Donald Schaefer, writer Lawrence Burney, and activist Makayla Gilliam-Price) that he wants his students to emulate.

“You can be a kid from Cherry Hill or Sandtown or wherever, be yourself, and excel,” he said. “There are so many oddballs here, and that’s what makes us so special.”

The values from Loyola—where he serves on the School of Education’s Board of Advisors and as an affiliate faculty member—are never far from Smith. Quite literally. Both of his arms are adorned with tattoos—and he wants his next one to say “cura personalis.”

“Care for the whole person,” he said. “I took that from Loyola. We have a responsibility to give back and make our impact broad.”