[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen long-time Hays teacher Joyce Smithey grew up in Halletsville she wanted to be a nurse. She went to Victoria Junior College, before studying at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. After a year there, she decided nursing wasn’t what she wanted to do, so she switched her degree to Biology and finished her teacher certification at then Southwest Texas State College with a minor in Chemistry. “I’ve had no regrets ever since,” Smithey sa...