Educator Provides Opportunity to Disadvantaged Students

 

Helen Devlin

Ever since she was a little girl, Helen Devlin has wanted to teach others.

 

Devlin, originally from Philadelphia, said she would play teacher in her neighborhood with the other children, who would serve as her students.

“From the time I was real little, I decided,” Devlin said. “I’m very nurturing, I guess, and that’s part of it.”

She taught various subjects in Catholic Schools in Philadelphia for seven years before meeting her husband, when she began moving around to follow his career. In 2000, she ended up in Hickory and began substitute teaching before getting a full-time job at Hickory High School.

Today, Devlin is the director of the S.T.A.Y., or Sustained Training All Year program at Hickory High. The federally-funded program offers extra help to low-income students with barriers. Barriers are identified as anything that may present a challenge to students’ success—such as being at a low level in math or reading, being a parent or pregnant while in school, or living in a group home.

“I tell them I become their mentor, their school mom, and their drill sergeant,” Devlin says, who is no stranger to what she calls the “bad cop routine.”

S.T.A.Y. works year round to keep up with the grades, attendance, college applications and personal issues of around 20 high school students.

“My husband says I raise other people’s children,” Devlin said, shrugging with the hint of a smile.

During the school year, S.T.A. Y. meets twice a week to discuss student success in the classroom and outside of it. But during the summer, Devlin’s schedule gets even crazier—with trips to colleges, lessons on how to ride public transportation and even taking students shopping for food and work clothing.

“If they do all the work, then during the summer, we get them jobs,” she said.

There are 14 job sites that the program partners with throughout the community, including Lowes Foods, Goodwill, Lenoir-Rhyne University and the school district’s own administration building.

Students are paid through the S.T.A.Y. grant and transported to their job sites with help from Devlin and public buses, as many don’t have cars, she says.

“A lot of these kids are coming from homes that—you wonder how they’ve gotten this far, because of situations in the home,” Devlin said. “We all have ‘stuff,’ but some of these kids have more ‘stuff’ than normal.”

For many, the job is the first time they have made money on their own, as well as an opportunity to learn job skills and create connections that will help them network post-graduation.

The employment program lasts five weeks during the summer. Some temporary employers even offer students full time jobs after the program ends if they prove their work ethic, Devlin said.

“I can lead them, but at some point they have to take the initiative,” Devlin said. “We’re trying to prepare them for college and the workforce. At some point, they leave us and (enter) the real world.”

Devlin has been invited to weddings, baby showers, birthdays—and more recently, a baby naming ceremony. But for her, the real rewards lie in watching students grow.

“Those are the ones that like me,” she said, laughing. “Some are challenges… some of the high maintenance ones will come and see me and say, ‘you told us this stuff when we were here and now we’re out in the real world and we can see it.’ There’s good days and bad days, but sometimes you just need one good day.”

S.T.A.Y. also does community service projects, such as planting a community garden across from the school and cooking and preparing a meal for the Salvation Army once a year, which she says is no small feat.

“We work hard,” Devlin said. “They’re exhausted when they’re done, and they’ll go, ‘that was really cool. That was really neat.’ Because here’s people who have nothing, and we’re doing something really neat.”

Delvin recalled one year when a student was serving a meal at Salvation Army and her father came through the line, needing a meal himself, which struck a nerve for the student and reminded Devlin the importance of helping others.

In addition to her efforts with S.T.A.Y., Devlin is highly involved with the Kiwanis Club of Hickory. She was its first female president in 2005 and now serves on the board as well as advising the Circle K and Key Clubs at the college and high school levels, respectively.

“I’m very community-oriented,” she said. “We all need to give back to our community.”

Devlin also takes extra time to collect everything from prom dresses to food for students.

She is in charge of the school’s “Prom Closet,” which community members and businesses donate new and used prom dresses, tuxedos, shoes and more for students who may not be able to afford prom otherwise.

She also keeps a food pantry for students to make sure they don’t go hungry and a clothing closet for students who may be out of uniform or unable to afford the school’s required khakis, blue or black pants and collared shirts.

On July 24, Devlin donated her hair to Locks of Love for the seventh time, despite her reservations about donating her now gray hair.

“It takes me two years to grow it,” Devlin said. “I said, ‘Gray-haired ladies need wigs too.’”

Devlin refers to her fellow staff members at Hickory High School as her “extended family,” saying she couldn’t do all she does without the help of so many others.

“Sometimes people ask me, ‘what do you teach at Hickory High?’ and my answer is, we all teach at Hickory High,” Devlin said. “Whether you’re the janitors, the cafeteria ladies, the bus drivers, the teachers the counselors, the office staff—in one way or another, we’re a family and we all teach. You don’t have to be in a classroom to teach.”

To give back to her fellow educators, she has organized pot-lucks and a chili cook-off in the media center. She even hosts a red hat group called Red Hot Tornadoes that she calls her “girl’s night out” for faculty and staff.

“Once I get a project, I run with it,” she said.

Hickory City Schools spokesperson Beverly Snowden said she is an awe of Devlin’s constant energy and motivation to help others.

“She’s tough—but with a loving heart,” Snowden said. “Mrs. Devlin knows their hardships and she does everything in her power to help her students through tough times.”

Snowden said Devlin is a personal inspiration to her—someone she treasures and looks up to.

“Giving is her way of life,” Snowden said. “Helen Devlin doesn’t hesitate to brainstorm methods that will open doors for her students or direct them to a greater path. She is a blessing to so many young people in our community.”

Originally posted on the Hickory Daily Record

North Carolina School Boards AssociationEducator Provides Opportunity to Disadvantaged Students