Rachel Parker has worked behind the scenes at Dakota Ridge High School for the past three years. To most, Parker is known as the Activities Director, or just another person working in the main office. Like anyone, Parker is much more than what her vague title implies.
As an activities director at Dakota Ridge, Parker is in charge of all non-athletic events that happen at the school. She approves, schedules, and plans those activities, including work for performing arts, clubs, assemblies, and other presentations. In addition to that, Parker specifically oversees the Performing Arts and Specialized Education departments.
Q: What do you like most about your position at Dakota Ridge?
A: I love my position. I feel super blessed because I get the most, I think, student contact than any other administrator. I love teaching — teaching was one of my favorite things — and I was just like, “Oh I want a different challenge.” So when I left the classroom, my biggest fear was that I wouldn’t have kid contact still — that I would just be doing some of that negative stuff you think of in the office. And so I’m super blessed because I get to work with the best kids in the school. Getting to see them thrive when they do performances on stage, or when they’re trying to bring in a new speaker, or develop something new that they want an assembly about, that’s the fun stuff for me. I get the best of the students.
Q: You mentioned that you had taught previously. What did you teach?
A: I actually started off as a school social worker but realized that I loved being in the classroom. So then [I] was a special education math teacher and taught algebra and geometry math classes [for] fifteen years.
Q: Is Dakota Ridge the first school where you began working in the office?
A: No. I started as an administrator at my last school (Prayer View High School), did that for two years, and then came here.
Q: What do you like least about your position?
A: I think sometimes my least favorite is being stretched too thin with all of the different things that are going on in the office, and my job, and evaluating teachers, and doing discipline. Sometimes it feels hard, and I don’t feel like I’m as available to support students in what they want to do. [Or] to do the stuff like supporting student leadership in our building, and giving them a voice, and letting them really flourish. Sometimes that gets pushed to the back burner because it’s a revolving door of problems. The other least favorite part is that high school is tough sometimes, and I struggle when kids are mean. I hate to say it, but when there’s bullying and social media stuff, and all that drama around being a teenager, that is the hardest part for me. I hate it. I wish there was a better way to teach kindness and problem-solving skills to you guys because when that starts to bubble up, it hurts my heart.
Q: Do you see that often in what you do?
A: Yeah, on a daily basis. It’s hard because it’s like, you want to teach those skills, but you are also supporting all students as they work through it. It can be tough some days.
Q: If you could have any other job in this school, which one would you pick?
A: I mean, I love my job. I truly think I have the best job in the building. I would go back to the classroom and teach. Like I said, I didn’t leave teaching because I was burnt out or didn’t like it. I loved the classroom. I loved having that small community for 90 minutes that you then get to build a relationship with, support, and see the growth, and pass them on.
Q: Would you go back to teaching the same thing that you did?
A: It’s a different format here, so probably not, but I would want to do intervention math. I liked it. I felt like I found a way to have kids get some success with math, that were intimidated, or scared, or struggled with math.
Q: What specifically would make you go back to teaching, other than the relationship with students?
A: When you are a teacher you have control over your class. That’s your environment, so you get to set the norms, the expectation, the culture. When you’re in a big school of 1,300, your impact feels smaller. Trying to impact the culture of 1,300, with teachers and other administrators, you feel less impactful.
Q: How do you view the community of Dakota Ridge?
A: I think it’s a really tight-knit community. There’s a deep tradition and culture within the community, which I think is nice. When you see families coming, and continuing to send all their kids here, and not leaving, that means you’re creating a school that people want to be at. But I also think we still have our challenges. We’re not a very diverse school, and that’s changing, so having our students and our community understand what that looks like, and how to be open, and welcoming, and empathetic will always be a challenge. But I think every school faces that.
Q: What do you do outside of school?
A: I have two small children, they’re six and eight, so a lot of mom stuff: taking them to practice and running around. But, honestly, I really like camping. I like hiking and outdoorsy stuff.
Q: What about those interests you? Why do you like the outdoors?
A: I think, honestly, because I’m inside a lot. The days are long and the work is hard, and there’s something freeing about just being out and getting some vitamin-D and some fresh air. And then, I have a strong group of female friends, and that’s what we like to do together.
Q: Some teachers/administrators pick up a second job outside of school. Do you have one?
A: I do not. The big thing is just being a mom. That takes up most of my time. And, as administrators, we have coverage, so I’m at games or activities once or twice a week.
Q: Do you enjoy going to all of the games and activities?
A: I really do. I mean, it’s hard. Like the other night, I came to the band concert, and I brought my two kids with me, so they get to experience that and see that…I think it’s fun to see kids really thriving. I have a student in my Seminar, and he’s really quiet in Seminar. The first time I saw him in a play on stage, I was shocked because he was just a completely different person. He was animated and doing what he loved to do. I think that’s fun. I think when students see teachers and administrators at these events it helps because they’re like, “Oh, they care.” I think that helps with a lot of stuff.
Q: What do you hope to see happen at Dakota Ridge this year?
A: In terms of my job, and with the student activities and clubs, I hope that we develop stronger clubs and connect more students. We had a survey go out and it was a really low percentage of students who felt connected here, which again hurt my heart. It was hard to be like, oh my gosh, we have all these offerings and kids aren’t connecting? So I think that will be a huge thing is [having] student leaders work really hard to pull in as many kids into our student groups as possible so kids can really figure out where they belong, who they connect with, and who their people are. That would be a big one, and I always want to see new things from students, new ideas that they want to bring to the school, new changes they want to bring, a lot more student-led stuff about things they want to bring to the community.
