With the close of last school year, I completed my 30th campaign in education. Each of those years has been filled with joy and sorrow, challenges and successes, ups and downs and a ton of stories worth sharing. My (True) Life in Education Thus Far will detail 30 or so of those stories. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed living (most) of them!
HOW MANY HATS IS TOO MANY HATS?
NOVEMBER 9, 2022
The first years of Regis Jesuit High School Girls Division were incredible. The days were certainly long and there was hard work to be done, but the energy of doing something new – of creating something – was palpable for our entire staff.
The initial year when we were off campus and flying all but solo was special. I can still almost remember everyone’s classroom – how it was set up, where it was in the building – and I can name every teacher and staff member who was with us that first year. The school would grow exponentially (something that no one was sure of when we opened) over the next five years in terms of enrollment and of staff to serve the young women. While I had a hand in almost all the hires over those years and in more than a few admissions decisions and while I think we did great things, hired great people, brought in great students in the years to follow, those first years were remarkable.
The individuals on that first staff wore multiple hats. The principal taught Spanish classes. The Assistant Principal taught math and oversaw the counseling program. Each teacher taught more than they strictly should have and each moderated a club or coached a sport. All of our staff members took on multiple responsibilities far beyond what their job descriptions required of them.
For my part, I was the Dean of Students, I was one half of the English Department, I was the yearbook co-moderator, I was the public address system.
We did not have a PA or a bell system that first year. In order to share announcements and morning prayer, we brought the entire student body together before class and I read announcements and helped facilitate prayer. Because we had no bells, our teachers had to dismiss their students promptly and on schedule. They did.
I loved moderating the first yearbook for Regis Jesuit Girls Division with a staff of freshmen and sophomores who would put the first yearbooks together over the next few years.
I always wanted to remain in the classroom even when my ambitions and my career path led me into administrative roles. That the school needed me to teach (and I taught members of that first class of sophomores all three years they were with us) was a happy coincidence. I taught every year I was an administrator at Regis Jesuit. When I moved on to Mullen, I would have to fight to do so, but that is a story for another post.
I was also Dean of Students and tune in next week for more on that role.
Suffice it to say we all were serving the school in many different capacities and serving, I think, very well. Though the work was taxing and our environment was challenging (the aforementioned no PA, many of the restrooms were elementary student sized – tiny toilets and low sinks – the outer wall of the “gym” was about 18 inches from the out of bounds of the basketball court, we had to lay carpet tiles on the cafeteria floor every Friday, and so on) the camaraderie was unlike anything I have ever experienced.
How many hats is too many hats? I am still, almost 20 years later, trying to answer that particular question. I have not found that limit.
