Taking on five preps as a new teacher at Clarkston Junior High more than two decades ago may have prepared Assistant Principal Sarah Wasilk to take on the simultaneous challenges and responsibilities she’s faced there every day for nearly a decade as a middle level administrator.
Early in her teaching career Sarah earned a Masters in Administration and started working in the office on her conference hour. Spending time with students individually opened her eyes to the possibilities of changing roles.
“I really was getting to know students who were struggling with more than just academics, and I really enjoyed watching their progress and helping them in more than just the academic arena,” she said. “I definitely wasn’t counseling. But when a student makes a poor choice, you really learn a lot about who they are and where they come from, and then you can kind of navigate how you can help them.”
She said watching that growth, though she saw it as a teacher, was just different.
As an administrator, Sarah said she always tries to keep her foot in the door with something within the classroom. She is the leadership liaison, the Link Crew liaison and still coaches soccer.
“I think it’s just really important to get to know kids on more than just the surface level and in a very genuine way,” Sarah said.
In reflecting on culture building, she said bringing 30 kids together and creating a culture in a classroom can be a challenge – there are good days and bad, but feels like for the most part, they’re all good days.
“I feel like, as an administrator,” Sarah said, “you can have some really tough tug-at-your-heartstrings days, but working with [students]—especially at our age level, eighth and ninth grade, I think that’s when kids are really becoming young adults—we expect them to make mistakes, but we also expect growth, and really try to foster them into being a young adult ready to go on to the high school.”
In her nomination of Sarah as a leader to shine a light on, Royal Oak Middle School Principal Kristin Meldrum said Sarah never hesitated to help her work through different experiences that may come up as an administrator when they were colleagues in Clarkston.
“She always took the time to answer my questions, model parent phone calls and allow me to help in any way possible,” Kristin said. “She always did and does what is in the best interest of the students.”
Sarah said what is best for students is different for every kid – which can be tough.
“It’s not a one size fits all, and that was actually a big learning curve for me, because I am kind of like, ‘If A happens, then B’ – and that’s not always the case,” she said. “And that’s where I think getting to know the student and their situation and whatever’s going on, like, the full situation, taking time with them—it’s not just, ‘Oh, you’re tardy four times in this class. You have a detention.’ It’s like, ‘Hey, what’s going on? Why are you dragging your feet? Let’s talk about this.’ And so I think ‘the best interest for kids,’ – it depends on the kid.”
Continuing to coach the JV soccer team allows Sarah to work with students outside of the building.
“When they meet me, they see me as an assistant principal,” she said. “But I think once we get in our groove, and they get to know me, they see that teachers, administrators—at least in Clarkson—we really try to just be genuine.
“And I love soccer, and I love athletics, and I love leading students and teaching them, fostering those leadership skills and showing them that you don’t have to do just one thing. You can be an administrator and still be a coach, at least in Clarkson.”
Communication, Sarah said, can never be overlooked as one of the most powerful tools – but not just email.
“I think genuine face-to-face communication goes a long way with people. And a lot of things, I think, can be easily misconstrued in a quick email or a quick text,” she said. “And so I just feel like you can never have enough communication … we have a Google Classroom to make it easy for new teachers, because they just get inundated with information.”
She said there’s a team that works on maintaining that communication for new teachers and communicating overall to the entire staff.
“I’m very fortunate that my building principal and I, and the dean and I, work very cohesively together,” Sarah said. “And I feel like we have a shared vision that we really, truly believe in, and every year we try and improve it. But I do feel like the base of that is always communication.”
As a big believer in “There 40 hours a week, and it’s hard and it’s tough and it’s work,” Sarah strives to ensure school culture works for the staff.
“Yes, we are there for work, but it’s kind of our second family, and people have to know that you genuinely don’t want people to be miserable coming to work,” she said. “And so I hope they know that, and I hope they know I’m there to help them and listen. I don’t always have the budget for everything or the answers, but I definitely, really just want to build a positive culture.
“… We’re always putting kids first. You know that we’re doing what’s best for kids. If we’re working together and doing what’s best for kids, then we’re doing our job.”