Susan Smith
Arrival 02 November 2013
Susan Smith lives in a small village in Nova Scotia, Canada and has attended public school there. She is an only child. Her father is a teacher in the local high school and he is also very involved in community volunteer work. Her mother does not work outside the home but she is very involved in church and charity work. Susan was born late in her parents lives. They were well established in their lives and community work long before she was born. Her parents have very little free time. Also she doesn’t have a baby sitter now when her parents go out in the evening. She is ‘young’ for her years. She is not interested in boys yet. She was spending too much time alone.
It soon became boring so Susan started branching out and hanging out with other teens at the mall. Eventually she and her best friend Karen started planning some mischievous activities and Susan started getting in trouble. At first minor scrapes and her father received some embarrassing phone calls. As time went on her antics became more serious and she was brought home by a member of the local RCMP detachment a couple of times. Her parents found this very embarrassing. Susan started skipping school and was a disruptive influence when she was there. The school principal, being a friend of her father, tolerated as much as he could but eventually he told Susan’s parents they had to do something about her as they just could not keep her in his school.
Susan doesn’t like school much – She finds it boring. She would rather be outside playing than sitting in a boring classroom. When she is in school she daydreams and misses what is being said. Like when the teacher is assigning homework Susan does not always hear it and then gets in trouble for not doing it. This makes Susan angry. She gets angry because She gets detention for not doing the homework and then she kicks the desk or wastebasket and gets in trouble for that. One thing seems to lead to another. Her parents are very kind loving people and try to understand their daughter. They never punish her. Her mother is avidly against any corporal punishment. Her father attended a public school in England and, although he said it never hurt him he has never spanked his daughter. Neither parent could bring tolerate inflicting pain on their beloved daughter.
This past year things sort of got out of hand. The school principal threatened to expel her. After looking at a lot of schools they chose Oaks and Pines. It is very expensive but her great uncle had established a trust fund for Susan. There was enough money to send her to the school but not enough for extras like school trips. Her parents have to find the money for those things themselves.
Susan likes to play softball and basketball and any sports really. She skates, skis and does a lot of jogging and sometimes takes a long run of ten miles or so, as well as long bicycle rides. She is taking violin lessons and passed Grade 1 RCM practical exam. And is working on Grade 2 level. She likes Math and Science better than English and History. French is OK.
Her parents have sent her to Oaks and Pines with the hope that they will straighten Susan out. Her mother is avidly against corporal punishment but her father knows she will probably receive it at the school. He secretly hopes the school will do what he could not do. Susan goes off to school completely unaware that she is starting a new life and new discipline regime.
UPDATE 11 January 2018
Susan has adapted to Oaks and Pines in a way. In 2016 she tied with Charlotte Farrell to win the Principal’s Shield. She goes home for summer vacations and Christmas and Easter Breaks and sometimes goes on trips with the other girls instead of going home. She remains close to her family.
Susan’s home is in Port Henry NS in Annapolis County. It is located over the North Mountain on the Bay of Fundy shore about 10 miles from the nearest town in the Valley where Frank Smith Jr., her father, is now the High School Principal.
At Easter 2016, Susan’s paternal grandfather died. Susan was close to him and was heartbroken at his death. The Smith’s lived in Parrsboro, Cumberland County. Susan’s paternal Grandmother Dorothy (Dot) has sold her home in Parrsboro and will eventually buy a home near Halifax from whence she came. In the meantime, she has an apartment in Montreux Switzerland where she plans to live while Susan is in school at Oaks and Pines. Dorothy is a former school teacher and she does believe in corporal punishment and has administered it to Susan since moving to Switzerland far from her daughter-in-law, the corporal punishment abolitionist.
Susan’s maternal grandparents are diary farmers in the Annapolis Valley within bicycle riding distance from Port Henry. They believe Martha has spoiled Susan but do not interfere. Susan is also close to her maternal grandfather who takes her beach combing often and helps her collect stones from the beach. Stones like Agate, Nova Scotia’s stone, Amethyst etc.
Susan loves her life on the Fundy shore and longs to be able to live at home again but her parents leave her in Switzerland where they sometimes visit in March Break and at the school’s anniversary in November. Her great uncle Horace her benefactor has died leaving the bulk of his fortune to his sister, Dorothy Smith. Susan continues to benefit from the trust he set up for her education.
Susan
