Steven Smyth, Executive editor
Mr. Smyth, an English teacher at AMSA for the past nine years, is The AMSA Voice adviser and executive editor. He currently teaches Journalism, Advanced Placement Literature, Shakespeare, and Literature to Film. Before becoming a teacher, he was a reporter for the Contra Costa Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and a freelance writer.
He worked primarily as a sports reporter and served as the Stanford University beat writer for the Times from 1994 to 2000. He also was the newspaper’s golf writer and backup beat writer for the San Jose Sharks for two years. Mr. Smyth had the pleasure of covering such events as the Final Four, the Rose Bowl, the College World Series, golf’s U.S. Open, and the Stanley Cup playoffs during his career. Counted among his favorite memories are interviews with Willie Mays, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and actors Clint Eastwood, Jack Lemmon, and Bill Murray.
Mr. Smyth loves teaching and sharing his passion for journalism and literature with students. His favorite works include the plays Hamlet, King Lear, and Death of a Salesman and the novels Blood Meridian, The Sound and the Fury, and The Great Gatsby. A lifelong cineaste, his favorite film is Citizen Kane, and he considers The Tree of Life and There Will Be Blood the best films of the 21st century.