Constantly putting other before yourself is the act of being selfless, a word that Caleb Smith tries to incorporate into his life daily. Smith has been in a litany of occupations since his teenage years, but all have served as a point of helping others in some sort of way.  

Smith has been a central Illinois boy for his 26 years of life. Growing up in small-town Chatsworth, Ill., Smith was never eager to leave the area that taught and gave him so much. Currently a teacher just 15 minutes north of Chatsworth, at Saunemin Elementary School, Smith is at the forefront of helping build the framework for the next group of kids to grow in bright young gurus.  

Smith earned his Bachelor’s in teaching at Illinois State back in the Spring of 2017 and began his career at Prairie Central Elementary School as a teacher’s aid that Fall. Smith began teaching third graders in Saunemin in August of 2018 and hasn’t looked back since. Recently engaged, Smith bent the knee last December to Celina Maire, who is also a teacher in the Chicago area. 

While most teenagers are happy enough to earn a paycheck, Smith didn’t want just some random job. In his youth, he began working at the Boys and Girls Club in Fairbury, Ill., helping watch over kids during the afternoon hours throughout the work week. Smith also found himself dubbed “The Blizzard King” for his killer ice cream blends at the Dairy Queen in Pontiac, Ill. Two jobs early on in Smith’s life, allowed for him to help mold the future of the next generation, while delivering delicious heavy brain freezes on weekends. 

“The kind of person I aspire to be is someone who lives his life trying to serve others,” said Smith.  

“When I turned 18, I found the introduction to my adult life to be the perfect time to start giving back to others. I became a lifeguard, starting volunteering in my town fire department, and enrolled in an EMR class that would allow me to run with my town’s ambulance service.” 

Still holding his position at the Boys and Girls Club, Smith expanded to his hometown roots, picking up jobs at Caps Pool, and the Fire Department/EMS crew. Incredibly, Smith was able to receive the moniker as the all-time save’s leader in the pool’s history. Putting the pool on his back for six years, Smith hung up his guard shorts for the business casual approach as his teaching career began. 

While on lifeguard duty from noon to seven all summer long, Smith would dedicate his nights to volunteering for the Chatsworth fire department. As a child, could always recall being infatuated with the action and responsibility that it took to be a fireman. 

“From a young age, I was volunteering in fake car accidents allowing the fire department to cut apart the car around me and practice rescuing people from car accidents. My Dad became a volunteer fireman when I was 8 years old, and I wanted so badly to do the same when I grew up,” said Smith. 

Speaking highly of his father, Joel Smith, Caleb continued discussing why his father was his role model in his adolescence.  

“Having had some major difficulties in his youth, no one would have blamed him if he had such a negative outlook on society and people in general.  He could have isolated himself from the world and only worried about himself.  Instead, he channeled that energy to help others, even though others were not fair to him when he was younger,” said Smith. 

“He became an EMT in 2003, and finally made EMS his full-time job in 2019.  He’s always willing to give others a hand when they ask, and he’s truly been my main inspiration for wanting to make a difference in people’s lives.” 

Joel was the man that Caleb looked up to through the entirety of his life, and understandably so, bestowing wisdom such as “”When everyone else is running from danger, be the person that runs towards it,” said Joel Smith. 

Caleb reassures that his father doesn’t mean to enact intentional hurt upon yourself or take unnecessary risk, but instead “To be that calm that others need to help take care of the situation,” said Caleb Smith. 

While Joel was the inspiration to his son, Caleb fits that persona to those he has worked with over the years. Former Caps Pool lifeguard Thomas Huisman touches on what Smith has meant to him since meeting back in 2014. 

“Caleb goes by many names: Smitty and Sanders to name a few of my preferences. I think he should add super-man to that list because this man does it all. Volunteer fireman, teacher, avid lifeguard, and most of all a man you can count on,” said Huisman. 

On a stormy spring night two years ago, Smith found himself in a situation like what his father previously explained, but this time, as a simple bystander. In a dicey situation, Smith stepped up to be the man that Huisman alluded to, can be counted on. 

“I was driving down Interstate 57 South, when the car in front of me suddenly jolted into the left lane, and then swung to the right and drove off the road.  They’d driven through a ditch, and the car had crashed into a tree that was next to a field.  The driver had been ejected, and the car was showing signs of smoke,” said Smith.  

“I helped move the driver away from the smoking vehicle, but then realized there was another passenger that was stuck in the back seat.  The door wouldn’t open, and there was too much damage for her to crawl out the front doors.  The window had cracked from the impact of the crash, and I knew she needed to not be in a car that was exhibiting some smoke. I wrapped my hand up with the jacket I was wearing, and punched my way through the cracked window, and cleared off the remaining glass.  I was then able to help pull the woman that had been flung into the back seat out of the vehicle and moved to a safer location until EMS was able to arrive. it was an incredible feeling to know I was there and able to help someone after such a devastating accident such as that.” 

In the moment of disaster, the willingness to jump into an unclear situation was proof Smith listened and learned from his father as a child. Smith was in the right place at the right time, but almost wasn’t if he hadn’t made the decision three fateful years beforehand to switch his major to teaching.  

“I had changed my major to education in 2015, because the major I was in before didn’t fit my personality.  I was a business major, and the thought of sitting behind a desk all day didn’t seem to be helping anyone in need,” said Smith.  

Smith met his fiancé Celina as he made the transition into his new major, and without their relationship, Smith wouldn’t have been returning from Celina’s house in Chicago down I-57 that rainy night. 

While being at the ripe age of 26, Smith still has quite the journey to go. He spoke of intentions of moving to Dwight, Ill., in a few years to start a family with Celina, while also maintaining his teaching job as a Saunemin Eagle. Whether it be by holding the door for someone, using nothing but a hanger to unlock someone’s locked car from the outside or simply helping a third grader read; it’s fair to say Smith has accomplished his goal of growing into the giving man he always wanted to be.