Kate Smith Elementary School Celebrates 100th Birthday
![Kate Smith Elementary School Celebrates 100th Birthday]([{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_1/v1780088354/washoeschoolsnet/uhkfb5z2k8p4xvhtozjz/KateSmith5.jpg","width":256},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_2/v1780088354/washoeschoolsnet/uhkfb5z2k8p4xvhtozjz/KateSmith5.jpg","width":512},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_3/v1780088354/washoeschoolsnet/uhkfb5z2k8p4xvhtozjz/KateSmith5.jpg","width":800},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_4/v1780088354/washoeschoolsnet/uhkfb5z2k8p4xvhtozjz/KateSmith5.jpg","width":1200},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_5/v1780088354/washoeschoolsnet/uhkfb5z2k8p4xvhtozjz/KateSmith5.jpg","width":1600},{"url":"https://resources.finalsite.net/images/f_auto,q_auto,t_image_size_6/v1780088354/washoeschoolsnet/uhkfb5z2k8p4xvhtozjz/KateSmith5.jpg","width":2200}])
Kate Smith Elementary School Celebrates 100th Birthday
Victoria Campbell
Students, families, and staff members celebrated the 100th birthday of Kate Smith Elementary School this week with dancing, musical performances, birthday cake and pizza, and piñatas stuffed with candy. The event drew more than 100 people who looked through scrapbooks, wrote down their memories of attending or working at the school, and visited with other families and friends.
The school's cheerleaders even joined the UNR cheerleading squad in dancing to music at the celebration.
“There’s something really special about a small community,” said Principal Jenn Hodges. “All of our students walk to school, and the parents talk to one another in the mornings, and we see them all. It’s that sense of community that’s really been built here, that makes Kate Smith stand out and be special. Everyone knows everyone else, and that’s important and rare in these days of social media when everything is online.”
The school was named in honor of Kate Smith, a high school teacher at Robert Mitchell School from 1907 to 1915. She moved to Sparks High School when it opened, teaching English, Latin, literature, and history. She also launched the school debating society.
In 1915, she left Sparks and moved to the University of California, Berkeley to teach Latin.
The original Kate Smith Elementary School was located elsewhere in Sparks and was demolished in 1972. The current school site was opened in 1963.