As you first walk into the school’s deans’ office, you can feel the weight of the air on your shoulders as students radiate with anger, rage, frustration, and fear as they await the jurisdiction of their deans. The lists of rules on the right-hand wall of the entrance may intimidate those who have been stricken with the guilt and regret of their irresponsible actions. Walk in a bit further toward the secretaries’ desks, and you’ll find a bright aurora coming from the smile of a bubbly woman, Nancy Sheehan, surrounded by a large shelf of ducks. There’s big ducks, little ducks, red ducks, yellow ducks, rubber ducks, and stuffed ducks all lined up on a large shelf above her desk. There’s even a poster with a smiling rubber duck that reads: “The subject is happiness,” which probably isn’t something the students in the office would agree with.

“[My duck collection] started with one that was left anonymously,” said Sheehan, an administrative assistant in the deans’ office. “Someone just left a little duck on my desk, and then it was stolen,” she laughed. “So, I replaced it with a duck I found over summer vacation and Mr. Wilson [a former dean] brought a whole family of ducks. They’re from students, teachers, even a substitute has brought me a duck. Each one has some meaning to me. It started in my fourth year here, which was in ’94.  Some new students that have seen the collection tell me that they’re going to bring in new ducks.”

Sheehan isn’t just your ordinary secretary who just deals with paperwork, referrals, and attendances. She graduated from St. Michael Central High School, began working at Niles West 16 years ago, and trained 15 different deans, which means that she’s seen a lot of trouble come through the office’s doors. She’s trained so many different deans that she can’t even remember them all and keeps a list of them in her desk.

“[I’ve trained] Mark Rigby, Elizabeth Gomez, Mike Wayne, Judy Yacker, Steve Foerch, Mark Kleeman, Gary Solomon, Mark Wilson, Donna Stevens, Cathy Johnson, Luke Pavone, Mike Tarjan, Ryan McTague, and Dr. Isaac Hoffman, and Jen Hahne,” she said, reading the names on the list aloud.

“The new deans are doing just fine,” Sheehan said with a chuckle. “They’re a good fit for the office and a good fit for the students. [Dean Joaquin] Stephenson comes with experience and it shows. I think he is good with the students.  And then Hahn came to us from Pupil Services. She’s one of the school’s psychologists and they think that her working with the deans all through the years have given her a good insight into what the job entails. She’s doing just great.”

Before interviewing Sheehan, I had no idea that deans even received training.

“[Deans in training] have to find their own method of ‘deaning.’  It is up to them on how to implement [their skills]. I just guide them as support, and in all the years I’ve been doing this, only one dean hasn’t lived up to my expectations, but I won’t name who,” she laughed.

“Mark T. Wilson,” she hesitated to answer. “He had no patience and he did not tolerate many students. He was appointed as dean, but didn’t choose to be. I had to direct him a lot. That’s all I’m going to say.”

Sheehan is truly funny, bubbly, and according to former Niles West Assistant Principal of Operations and dean, Ryan McTague (who is now the principal of Niles North), she plays a huge role in making sure things run smoothly in the deans’ office.

“I worked for Sheehan when I was a dean and she’s had so many new deans,” said McTague. “She’s been so instrumental in showing them the ropes. She has a general

knowledge of the office and school processes and procedures, what has to get done, and she also has amazing organizational skills. Her ability to organize and prioritize so that the deans can receive the information and documents they need is remarkable because there is so much to handle in the office, like detentions, referrals, and to get that all to the right deans is just amazing.”

Dean Mark Rigby agrees.

“Mrs. Sheehan is a rock star,” he said, enthusiastically. “She and Ms. Erickson [another secretary in the office] truly make the office run.”

When asked about her opinion on the leaves of McTague and Keith Robinson (a former West dean who is now the assistant principal of operations at Niles North), Sheehan says, “I’m sad for Niles West because we lost two really good people. I know they’ll be really good at [Niles] North. I think they’ll implement many changes there for the good, but we miss them a lot. They were very nice men and good administrators.”

Sheehan plans to retire in 2014, but still seems to be attached to her job.

“[Working here] is wonderful. I love my job. I love interacting with students and my coworkers have been team players,” she says. “We really work as a team to guide the students in the right directions. Work is the same as always, just different names, different faces, same problems.”

Of course, Sheehan’s leave in four years will be a bitter day for many, including Rigby.

“[I’ll be] sad. Melancholic. Downtrodden. But, happy for her because she deserves it. She’s a wonderful, wonderful lady,” he said.

Sheehan won’t be lonely after she retires. She has her family to keep her entertained.

“I am married, have one daughter and two grandsons,” she informed me. “I live in Chicago and gardening is my hobby. I enjoy my grandsons. They’re 9 and 15 and come over almost every day. I was busy this summer taking care of my family.  My summer was spent helping my grandsons, son-in-law, and daughter.”

Sheehan has all of her plans after retirement well thought out.

“Well, [after retirement] my [oldest] grandson will be in college, so I’ll probably be sending care packages to college,” Sheehan laughed. “My younger grandson will just

be starting high school when I retire, so I’ll probably be a chauffeur for him, and I don’t mind in the least. They’re wonderful boys. I hope to maybe volunteer at a children’s hospital,” she said with a gleaming smile. “I want to rock babies, but I don’t know if they still do that. [I also want to] work in my yard and read and hopefully travel a bit. You just don’t know what tomorrow brings though.”

Well, no matter what the future holds for Sheehan, at least she’ll always have her ducks to remember her time here at Niles West.

“I have no clue how many there are now and no clue what to do with them after I retire. If anyone has ideas, please submit them to me!”