Streamers and balloons frame the doorway of Ms. Dina Schaefer’s room in the front office, reminiscent of the recent victory she celebrated: being announced the paraprofessional of the year for Westwood. 

The senior administrative associate, Ms. Schaefer manages many organizational aspects necessary to run the school. She directly assists Principal Erin Campbell for all the tasks she needs, and steps in to help with supplemental administrative aspects for the campus whenever it is required.

“My official title is senior administrative associate, [but] it used to be called principal secretary, so we got a nice fancy title now,” Ms. Schaefer said. “But what I do is I control everything within the building, facility wise, and I do everything that Principal Campbell needs done around here, but I pretty much keep the school running and organized, you know, calendars and all that stuff.”

Reflecting on the moment, the satisfaction Ms. Schaefer felt when she won paraprofessional of the year was incomparable. The support she received from fellow staff members and the community during the celebration was telling of how much she does for Westwood, and how her efforts are seen and recognized. 

“I was so surprised. I was in here, just working and Ms. Campbell came on the announcements [and spoke] about the Basketball team, and then they announced the paraprofessional of the year,” Ms. Schaefer said. “They came in with balloons and flowers, I was so surprised, very very honored. Because the voting is from faculty and staff, that means if you’re not up in the office on a daily basis, teachers kinda don’t know what a lot of us do, but that means that everybody noticed that, for example, when the bookkeeper or our sub coordinator left, I took on that role.”

At first, the process of choosing the paraprofessional of the year may seem simple and straight-to-the-point, but it is a carefully curated, thoughtful process. Staff members must reflect on each other, choose a candidate, and justify and explain their selection. This requires a truly tight-knit community of educators, and for Westwood, their unequivocal choice was Ms. Schaefer.

“It starts out with the teacher of the year — we submit a google form and everybody’s got to be nominated,” Ms. Schaefer said.  “After the teacher of the year is done, then the paraprofessional of the year nomination for the school goes out, and everybody submits a name and has to clarify why that person is being nominated. I nominated [our receptionist] Ms. Kelley Toney, she’s phenomenal, too. So it was a process of the nomination and the finalists.”

Claiming a long, diverse history as an educator, Ms. Schaefer carries with her plentiful experiences in the field. She reflects on how these experiences have aided her in her journey to Westwood. Ms. Schaefer lovingly describes her unique journey, and how education has been the best option for her. 

“I was a military spouse for 28 years, well I still am, but retired now. I’ve worked in a lot of school systems around the world, and since my kids were little, that was the best place to be, because the schedule was very flexible,” Ms. Schaefer said. “This will be my third year, [at Westwood]: when Principal Campbell started working as a principal, we started working together — when she moved up from the associate, I came from Cedar Valley.”

Ms. Schaefer emphasizes the importance of a strong community within school, stating that all of the student body, the staff, and parents create a good working environment. According to her peers, Ms. Schaefer’s contributions to this environment have earned her this title of paraprofessional of the year. In Ms. Schaefer’s opinion, Westwood is a clear example of community cohesiveness and bonding.

 “Every school I’ve [chosen to] work at, it’s been because of the people you work with. You want to do more, because you love working with the people and the school, and that’s Westwood,” Ms. Schaefer said. “This is a great bunch of people to work with, the students are phenomenal, the parents that come in are great, it’s just a great community to be at. I feel that it’s very important, whether you’re working with the principal or the custodians, that you treat everybody with kindness.”