Today we’d like to introduce you to Allyn Doyle.
Allyn, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
As an undergraduate student at St. Anselm College in New Hampshire, I was not sure where my professional career was headed. I loved taking numerous Spanish classes and studying psychology, but I was not sure how to combine these two interests into one profession. I was lucky to discover a strong partnership between Saint Anselm College and the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education, a teacher preparation program aimed at developing strong teachers and proponents of Catholic education. I applied to the program during my senior year and was placed in Chicago to carry out my student teaching.
I began at St. Sylvester School as a teaching fellow with the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education in 2013. I spent two years teaching Spanish to PreK-8th grade students while simultaneously completing my Master of Education degree through the University of Notre Dame. During my second year of teaching, I increased my involvement in the community by coaching soccer, flag football, and basketball, coordinating community fun runs, and assisting in the organization of our summer program. By my third year, I took on the role of both Spanish teacher and Physical Education teacher while maintaining my responsibilities as a coach and committee leader for various events throughout the school year.
Toward the end of my third year, I sat down with my principal to discuss the trajectory of my career in education. Through that discussion, I discovered that my love for educational leadership surpassed my love for teaching in the classroom. I had thrived when given administrative tasks and was constantly looking for the next opportunity to be involved in the behind-the-scenes operations of the school.
I was promoted to Vice Principal in the 2016-2017 school year and have spent my days coordinating all extracurricular activities (clubs and sports), finding scholarship opportunities, organizing community events, and communicating with families all while continuing to teach Spanish and coach both basketball and soccer. I am currently working through the summer as the director of our 10th annual summer program where we have happily enrolled 160 students from a variety of schools in the surrounding area for six weeks of academic enrichment and community exploration.
I am looking forward to furthering my career in Catholic school administration as a member of Loyola University’s Catholic Principal Preparation Program starting this fall, eventually earning a Master’s Degree in Administration and Supervision.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I am naturally a very passive person. I tend not to be a big planner and I typically take my days as they come. This approach works well when I am only responsible for myself, but being passive and being a school leader do not go hand in hand. I found that what I envisioned in my head was not always clear to others and that it was only fair to become a better communicator. I needed to learn quickly that being direct, proactive, concise, and clear were essential qualities of a successful school leader.
Throughout this school year, I have put forth effort to meet the needs of the staff and families of St. Sylvester by completely overhauling the way I approach tasks. Instead of loosely planning and meeting challenges as they arise, I plan carefully and strive to anticipate every possible loophole or difficulty that might pop up then re-plan to accommodate or come up with a back-up plan. Instead of waiting to organize an event until a week or two out, I start planning a month in advance to ensure plenty of time to seek the advice of others, make changes, and create a clear game plan.
While this change in approach took some time, I am grateful to have been pushed to make these changes. Quite frankly, it’s made my life way easier and I wish I had been forced to do so sooner!
St. Sylvester School – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
St. Sylvester School is a PreK-8th grade Catholic school located directly across from Palmer Park in the Logan Square neighborhood. We are a loving, dynamic school community committed to the academic, social, and spiritual growth of all our students. Our students begin reading, writing, and solving math problems in PreK. In elementary school, our students are challenged to connect classroom concepts to the real world and Junior High students are pushed to take those real world connections and make meaningful changes in the world.
We are incredibly proud to offer a rigorous academic curriculum in all subject areas across all grades. Students from St. Sylvester go on to a variety of top high schools in Chicago such as St. Ignatius, Lane Tech, DePaul College Prep, and Northside College Prep. We have also had a number of students earn competitive scholarships like the Daniel Murphy Scholarship based on academic merit.
St. Sylvester is proud to be an active member of the greater Logan Square community. We host a number of events that are open to the community such as the Halloween Fun Fair, Christmas Fair and Santa Brunch, 1st / 2nd and 3rd / 4th grade plays, and summer program. We participate in community outreach through organized park clean-ups and food drives through our parish food pantry.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I am most proud of my involvement with our annual Summer Program. In my first year running the program in the summer of 2016, we had a total of 136 students from a variety of schools in the community. This year, the response was so strong that we had to close enrollment in early June. We now have a total of 160 students enrolled in grades PK-8. Not only have we boosted our enrollment, we have strengthened our organization and communication from the office, and bolstered creativity and enrichment in the classroom.
I can only attribute this tremendous growth to the hard work and dedication of the staff who work during the summer program. It is their positive presence in the classroom, in the office, and in the lunchroom that encourages students to go home and share their excitement with parents and guardians. I have received numerous phone calls and emails commending our teachers and they absolutely deserve all the praise in the world. It’s this excitement our students go home with that encourages parents and guardians to talk to their friends and recommend that they place their own children in our Summer Program from year to year.
It has been an honor to be involved with the program in some capacity for the past three years. I am beyond thankful for the daily passion and flexibility of the teachers and the organization of the staff in the office who support my leadership every day. I am looking forward to continuing to grow the program for years to come.
Pricing:
- Preschool tuition–$5,950.00
- Kindergarten-8th grade tuition–$5,300.00
Contact Info:
- Address: 3027 W Palmer Square,
Chicago, IL 60647 - Website: http://www.stsylvester.org/
- Phone: (773)772-5222
- Email: info@stsylvesterschool.org
- Instagram: @stsylvesterschool
- Facebook: St. Sylvester School
Image Credit:
Beatrice Mazon
Vanessa Vazquez
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