DAEOP Member Spotlight

MEMBER SPOTLIGHT

This feature spotlights members of DAEOP, their career path, as well as some fun and favorite things about them.  

If you are interested in being our next member in the spotlight, please contact Teresa Craft to be our next STAR!

I was inspired to be an educational office professional

As an elementary student, I attended Shields Elementary in the CHSD. Our office secretary was Mrs. Anderson. I thought she was amazing and I thought she ran the entire school. I was chosen to be a helper in the office. Every morning I would go around and collect attendance slips and any time my teacher needed something from the office I would be the one she sent. I was so intrigued by Mrs. Anderson and I thought her job was so important. I didn’t understand as a child that the authority really was in administration. In my mind, Mrs. Anderson was the authority figure and she fixed everything. As I grew older I continued to be an office helper in middle school and high school all in the CHSD. When I graduated from CHSD I went to DTCC in Georgetown, DE, and received an Associate’s Degree in Office Systems. During this time my neighbor Mrs. Cannon was the assistant superintendent at CHSD and another neighbor Mrs. Clifton was the administrative assistant to the superintendent also in CHSD. Both of these ladies encouraged me to come work for CHSD. I never forgot how much Mrs. Anderson impressed me and how as a child I wanted to be like her nor did I forget the encouragement of Mrs. Cannon or Mrs. Clifton. So, these 3 ladies are why I wanted to be an office professional. I seemed to be blessed with the ability to keep order and multitask.

If I weren’t an educational office professional, you might find me:

If I were not an educational office professional, you may find me being a social worker in the educational system. Many do not realize it but as an educational office professional, you wear many hats. There have been many occasions where I acted as a social worker while being an educational office professional. There have been many times when I was a mother figure and a counselor. When you love people, you love children, you love your job, and you simply care about your job and doing the best you can you are no longer in a box. As an educational office professional, I have had to widen my horizons and be more than what my title said and do more than what my duties were. The love of people and my job puts me in a position where I continuously wear many hats. I have worked with the food bank to get students fed, worked with non-profit agencies and churches to get rent paid, electricity paid, clothing for our students, and much more. With all of the things I have encountered as an educational office professional I believe the only other thing I could be found doing would be a social worker.

The best advice I ever received:

Many years after I left Mrs. Anderson in elementary school I saw her at the post office and she still knew who I was. She asked me if I was still with the CHSD and I replied yes. She told me no matter what happens in a day and no matter how stressful the position may become always remember one thing- “You will still be there, and still be standing when the thing that is becoming stressful is now gone.” She taught me to be a good educational office professional sometimes you have to have thick skin, be routed on a sure foundation, and not allow anything to move you or cause you to be out of character. In addition to that advice! I have been taught to treat others the way I want to be treated. So, no matter what has happened that may be challenging I remember those two things.

My favorite part about my job:

For many years I worked as the building secretary and I love the interaction I had with the students, parents, and staff. Currently, I work as the Sr. Secretary of Beacon Middle School within the CHSD. My position is mostly financial and I enjoy keeping my records unblemished and fulfilling the needs of my administration and staff. Working in the CHSD and in the educational system has afforded me opportunities to meet community leaders that gave me the means to make change for many of our students in our district. Helping others in any capacity makes me happy but having a position that gives me the means makes it so easy to be a blessing.

My professional/community service includes:

For many years I engaged in assisting our less fortunate students with Thanksgiving meals, and Christmas Blessing Drives (Which enabled families to have gifts for Christmas). I and different community organizations and Eagles Nest Church would assist me in this area. For Thanksgiving, I partnered with community developments as well as Dr. and Mrs. Jose Saez of Lewes, DE, and would collect items that would allow families to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  For Christmas, parents would receive a wish list to complete and I would collect the wish list and give it to my community developments and Eagle’s Nest Church. The items would be purchased and wrapped and I would distribute them to the families. This also includes Winter Coat Drives and School Supply drives. In addition, I was in charge of the Food Bank at my local school. I would insure that students in need would be supplied weekly food bank bags on Friday so they had food for the weekend. I have had Dr. & Mrs. Saez help families who had no air conditioning or needed a financial blessing. I have had the Pentecostal Church of God assist in paying rent when eviction notifications were given. I have assisted DFS to mend families back together and with the help of community developments furnishing homes for those families. During the Covid epidemic when schools were closed and our staff worked from home I chose to work the CHSD Grab & Go program at CHSD under the direction of the CFO Mr. Oliver Gumbs who was the overseer of the Grab & Go program. We would feed our students breakfast and lunch daily for six months. I worked closely with the nutrition department which Mr. Gumbs was also the director at that time and the transportation department of the CHSD. I kept records of all meals that were disbursed and reported directly to Mr. Gumbs. Mr. Gumbs depended on me to ensure that the program ran smoothly under his direction.

A message that I have for a new educational office professional:

I would suggest that a new educational office professional starts out raising the bar, giving excellent service to your administration, your staff, students, and parents. Treat everyone like you want to be treated. Love your job and come to work daily with a positive attitude, ready to assist anyone in any way you can, show love to your students, make a difference where you can, and do not let your position just be a paycheck. Do all you can for you are positioned in a place where you could make a difference in a child’s life that would stay with them for a lifetime as Mrs. Anderson has done in my life.

Something important to me outside of work:

The most important things to me outside of work are my Christian life and my family. Family is very important to me. I have been blessed to have 5 children and I have taught them to be the best they can be, treat others the way they want to be treated, and always have a mind to give of themselves to others. We never know the difference we can make in someone’s day or life.