I remember when Dr. Neal Berte came to my hometown for a recruiting event for the College. I was in junior high, and my parents had invited him to dinner at our house afterwards, and unbeknownst to me, he took note of my collection of college pennants. The following week, I got a personal note from him that said he couldn’t help but notice the absence of a BSC pennant on my wall, and sent one along for good measure. It got my attention.

Several years later, as a high school senior interested in politics and government, I participated in ’Southern’s Model Senate program with 99 other students from around the Southeast. I was impressed that the College’s political science department had created such an interesting event that brought government to life for my fellow senators and me. (I was Missouri Senator John Danforth, by the way.)

When it came time to choose a college, Birmingham-Southern was one of several other well-regarded southern liberal arts schools on my list. I was truly up in the air until late in the spring of my senior year. In the final analysis, it was the people of BSC that tipped the scales for me to the Hilltop. My brother was a junior history major with an amazing group of friends, President Berte made a personal impression on me, and for someone interested in politics, the first-class faculty members in the political science department both excited and intimidated me.

In retrospect, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Once on campus, I found my crowd and quickly made what have become lifelong friends. On the academic front, I was able to focus on my passion for politics while also exploring other areas of interest like the theatre. The variety of a liberal arts curriculum suited me and, as I’ve learned through the years, prepared me well for rich and diverse experiences in life.

Ed LaMonte, through his Civil Rights & Justice class, taught me things about my home state and its role in our country’s continuing struggle with civil rights that opened my eyes to the past all around me. Bob Slagter taught me research methods and statistical analysis that I still use to this day in my career in politics and public affairs.

And the great Natalie Davis taught me not only how to think critically, but how to turn theory into practice in the political realm—all the while asking all the right questions to challenge me along the way. When I railed about the cynical nature of many in the political arena, she countered with optimism as the other side of the same coin, and about the power to positively impact people’s lives through the public policy process.

To be sure, it is easy to get cynical in today’s broken and divided public discourse. But the academic, moral, and personal lessons instilled in me at BSC equipped me well for my time in the political arena. I consider myself lucky to fight for things that I care about like access to better mental health care for all, preserving our planet for future generations, advancing equality for LGBTQ people, and much more. Like most professions, there are good days and bad days, and it can be unnervingly unpredictable. But with gratitude for my time on the Hilltop, I’m always ready for the coin toss.

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Bill Smith ’96 serves as the co-founder of Inseparable, a coalition organization advocating for better mental health policy through improving access to health care, increasing research, and investing in prevention and early intervention. Smith is also a founding partner of Civitas Public Affairs Group, a values-based firm working on some of the most pressing societal challenges of our day. He has more than two decades of experience in campaign management, messaging research and communications, and movement building. His brother, the late Jack Smith ’93, and niece, Sutton Smith ’21, both graduated from BSC, and his father, the late Joel P. Smith, served on the Board of Trustees.

Read more about Smith’s work at Inseparable in our ’Southern Magazine feature.

This story was included in a special social sciences edition of From the Hilltop, Birmingham-Southern’s alumni email newsletter.

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