Stephanie

I graduated two years ago this June, bright eyed and ready to start helping children improve their communication skills.  I was lucky enough to be hired by Stephanie right out of college.

There are all kinds of bosses in this world.  There are the kind that crack a whip while they sit on their butt.  There are the kind that bluster and yell, but actually have no idea what they are doing so they never follow through on the mountain of threats and insults they hurl.  There are the kind that are all sunshine and happiness who want everyone to talk feelings and sing Cumbaya at the end of each staff meeting but never resolve anything.  Stephanie is none of these people. 

Stephanie is the supervisor of our speech language pathology department.  Or at least she was until yesterday.  Most people who have a position overseeing that many people supervise and that's it.  Not Stephanie.  She supervised and had a caseload.  A caseload that was supposed to be "x" number of students but I'm pretty sure was actually "x, y, AND z."  I wouldn't say she cracked a whip, but she did expect you to do your job and not whine.  She expected you to work as hard as she did...and she worked hard.  Not to say that work is all there was to Stephanie. 

I work for a crazy big district.  I vowed to avoid being snarky on this blog, so I will not expand on the term "crazy" here.  I will say that the bigger the organization, the more intriguing the personalities.  What made me appreciate Stephanie most was that she always supported us when we needed and deserved it.  Sometimes that was just the voice of reason to say, "You can't save everyone, just do your best and let it go" without wasting further time focusing on things that could not be changed.  Sometimes it was helping finagle and finesse a challenging situation.  Once or twice, it was a heads up to allow me to avoid a landmine altogether.   

But don't think that she doesn't have her softer  side too.  After the horrific shooting in Newtown, Stephanie sent out an all staff e-mail.  Several staff members, including her, had suffered some kind of loss around that same time.  She reminded us all to stop, count our blessings, hug our children and really just be where we were for a moment appreciating what we had and thinking of those who were struggling.  That is an important lesson to remember in a huge urban district where children experience things few of us could even imagine. 

Stephanie, thank you for hiring me two years ago.  Thank you for your support my CFY year.  Thank you for telling me time and time again to worry less and relax.  I did actually listen.  I am a better speech language pathologist having worked for your.  Good luck, best wishes in your new position.