12 minute read
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT
Alumni Spotlight Erin Burns Schwant ‘98
Erin Burns Schwant graduated from St. Paul’s Episcopal School in 1998. Always an independent thinker, Erin charted her own path and opted to continue her education at Rollins College in South Florida. While at Rollins, she became a coxswain for the varsity men’s rowing team. In that role, she was required to steer the boat and motivate the crew – an opportunity to put her considerable leadership skills to work. The experience that this small (but mighty) college girl would gain by being put in charge of a crew of boys has undoubtedly served her well as the only lady in a home full of boys. Erin and her husband, Troy Schwant, have five sons: Jack, Charlie, Sam, Robert, and William; and they even have a boy dog named Bosco!
That leadership role at Rollins would also play a large part in what she would tell you has always been her dream: to develop a place that would nurture the whole child, teaching them to be safe, to be kind, and to do their best: the St. Paul’s Early Education Center (or “EEC” for short). Erin has never needed a blueprint or a Pinterest account to help generate creativity. She simply dreams, cultivates, and dedicates her time to making it a reality. With endless natural abilities and fierce determination to overcome any obstacles she may face, she is truly a force to be reckoned with. Erin’s dreams give way to her vision, and her vision then becomes her passion. Her passion for preschool could have put her in many places around Mobile, but when the opportunity came for her to make her dream a reality at St. Paul’s, she committed immediately. After all, she said, “St. Paul’s has always had my heart.” I cornered Erin for a small time to learn about her journey of success, fears, hopes, and dreams for the nine-year Nappie Award-winning Early Education Center. There is nothing quite like the EEC, and it has had a meaningful and incredibly positive impact on St. Paul’s Episcopal School. Listening as she carefully responds and gives credit to those around her, it becomes apparent that Erin’s love for the EEC and the school that taught her to go for her dreams twenty-four years ago are deeply intertwined. In many ways, Erin’s story is a testament to one of the most special aspects of our beloved St. Paul’s School: all are encouraged to follow their hearts and are equipped with the tools to do so. Some go out into the world and spread their light while others can’t wait to come back home to campus and give back to the school that gave so much to them. Thankfully for Mobile and for St. Paul’s, Erin is in the latter camp.
An early riser, Erin is fueled by parishioners’ prayers, an encouraging boss, and the carefully curated culture she’s created. The EEC family is devoted to always believing the best in each other and always desiring to make the community a better place, one gingham-dressed toddler at a time. In 2012, a couple of months into the year-long planning process that would ultimately form the EEC and its foundation, Erin was ready to begin welcoming families into a place she had always considered home. That first year, parents who were interested in their children attending the EEC were asked to come in person to the church in order to enroll. Fully expecting it to take weeks
for spots to fill, she didn’t anticipate much activity on the day enrollment opened. After all, eleven years ago, a full preschool curriculum (including, but not limited to an outdoor classroom, chapel every Tuesday, and yoga for toddlers) was considered incredibly progressive. She recalls stepping out of her car that morning shocked to find that a line had formed before 8 am. The first person in line had camped outside the church overnight to secure a spot, and another hopeful parent arrived at 4 am to be as close to the front as possible before heading to the hospital to deliver a baby! A nostalgic grin came across Erin’s face as she remembered that morning and the vulnerability in her voice as she recalls those first few days was palpable. She worked so hard on developing something that was so new and fresh in our community, and it is almost as if she didn’t realize how much she poured herself into it until reflecting on it in retrospect as we talked.
Erin credits a huge part of the preschool’s success with being affiliated with St. Paul’s Church and St. Paul’s School. “The reputation of St. Paul’s was so well established, people trusted that if it was associated with the church and the school, then it was naturally going to be great. I just needed to be sure we met those expectations.” Erin’s attention to detail and devotion to caring for her staff has continued to grow and evolve over the years, and she is constantly mulling over potential improvements, yearning to provide a continual flow of relevant educational resources to make sure the EEC continues to “do [its] best!”. Her seemingly effortless ability to articulate her vision and her constant desire to work as a team within her created system leaves little doubt as to why the EEC thrives. She will gracefully hide from any spotlight that comes her way, preferring instead for it to shine on her team, all while offering gratitude at every turn. “I am grateful for this place in so many different ways. I am so thankful for the partnership with St. Paul’s School. I love to collaborate with Heather Kraus, the Lower School Principal, sharing a campus with so many incredible people is truly a gift.” There are so many opportunities to learn from each other and grow together, and I am thankful to get to see all of our EEC alumni – my own children included – around the school’s campus. A wave from one of our alumni across campus is one of my favorite things to see!”
Congratulations on the Early Education Center’s tenth birthday! What an accomplishment! What would you say to yourself on the eve of the first day of school ten years ago knowing what you know now?
Go to sleep. Carpool will work. Tiny people will actually nap on their nap mats. Dru Jones will work miracles in the aftercare program. You won’t BELIEVE how the goodness of God is about to be revealed in His people through this place. God will bring the most wonderful people through these doors.
Ten years ago the idea of an early education center was incredibly progressive and virtually unheard of in our area. What inspired your vision?
My own boys were my inspiration. At the time I was hired, Jack was four, Charlie was two, and Sam was only one, so it was easy to think of what I wanted for them. I’m a psychology major, and I worked in a preschool as one of my internships in college. Because of the psychology department, there was such a thoughtful spin on emotional development, and I really wanted that to be a central part of the Early Education Center.
You could have opened the preschool anywhere. Why did you choose St. Paul’s?
It’s been eleven years since I was hired, and I’m still asking why St. Paul’s chose me! Being here feels too good to be true. I still can’t believe I get to work in a place I have always loved. In college, friends would say they couldn’t wait to get out of high school, and I could never relate to that. St. Paul’s has always felt like home to me, and I couldn’t wait to get back here. This is where my heart is.
Can you tell me about a teacher at St. Paul’s school that impacted your life?
I know I’m in good company with these answers: Patricia Marsh and Brenda Davis. Mrs. Marsh was the first person to treat me like an adult, she taught with tough love, and nothing was off limits – from your posture to your articulation, to whom you flirted with in her class. She ingrained in all of us that we would need to be skilled at public speaking regardless of what path we chose in life.
I still write each of my speeches out just as she taught us with double-spaced lines, big font, and every other sentence highlighted. It was such an empowering feeling to have a teacher who was so authentic. Brenda Davis taught me a love of God, a love of people, and a community service mindset. I felt so genuinely loved by so many teachers, and without a doubt, their investment in me as a person – not just as a student – has made a lifelong impact.
Let’s talk legacy. What do you hope the EEC’s legacy leaves to those who have had the opportunity to be a part of it? What do you hope for your personal legacy?
I hope that we set a foundation for community among each group of parents and children. Most likely, they will be together for many years to come, growing up together and raising their children together. I hope we help to establish strong, loving relationships that will cheer for each other in the good times and be safe places to lean into when things are hard.
It is so important to me to help set parents on the path to success. Part of why I love this age group is that everyone in this whole family system is so young. Parents are learning how to parent a school-aged child. I’ve never felt as vulnerable in my life as I did the first day I took my first baby to preschool, and I remind myself to relive those feelings when I think about our new parents. I want to surround families with wonderful teachers and resources so that they feel safe and loved. I want them to trust that we are there to support them in these incredibly magical and also quite trying little years. We know that when young children see themselves as loved and successful at school, they will walk into the next classroom and anticipate good things. The parents will also expect good things to happen and therefore good things will happen.
I think of this so often! In editing the yearbook with Betty Stone, I developed a love of taking pictures and documenting our school days, which is something I do now for the EEC. We’ve already talked about Mrs. Marsh and her speech classes, but there isn’t a Parent Preview, school program, or Closing Chapel where I don’t think of her and give thanks for what she taught me. I grew up loving our chapel songs, taking communion among friends, and developing my faith life through Morning Saints. Much of that spirit is reflected in our school prayer, and many of those traditions are continued in our Tiny Saints chapel services. Through leadership positions in student government and community service, I was taught how to communicate ideas, and also how to initiate (and implement) change. Without question, the value of genuine relationships was an enormous part of what I learned from the community at St. Paul’s. It is something I strive to carry into the EEC. St. Paul’s taught me to appreciate how much each individual person matters. You can have the nicest rooms, the best curriculum, and the most updated technology, all of which we are so fortunate to have;
but if your relationships with the parents and children aren’t based on trust, collaboration, and mutual respect, none of those resources matter. If children don’t feel loved, safe, known, and wanted within their school, it doesn’t matter how much you poured into your lesson plans. The genuine relationships I built with my teachers at St. Paul’s and the closeness of the community have always felt transformative.
John Riggin has such openness in his spirit and in his leadership. He lets me lean into what excites me and reminds me that the spark people feel is often God nudging them to their calling. There is trust in the way that John leads which gives freedom for endless creativity. He is also incredibly patient. He puts up with, and even delights in, nearly all of the crazy antics I’ve brought to this place for the last eleven years! It certainly isn’t limited to creatures, but as an example, we’ve had everything from ducklings following me around campus to chickens hatching in my office, and even an impulsively purchased pet pig! John supports whatever our EEC team dreams up. That’s especially evident in our Outdoor Classroom and community events. We have a river for children to play in and an “I-65” tricycle track for children to learn to ride bikes and scooters. We climb trees, plant butterfly gardens, and cook with mud. Many a leader would have insisted on a more tried and true approach, but John supports our wildest dreams. We just celebrated our 10th birthday with a Pop-Up Parade around Springhill. The celebration included over four hundred of our alumni and current families following the Blow House Band as we encountered one surprise after another. In the spring, we’ll host our fourth “Grill on the Hill” in which EEC families compete in a cook-off that quickly turns into a neighborhood block party. I challenge you to find a Rector as willing to support seventeen grills on the beautiful lawn and a band playing “Brown Eyed Girl” from the steps of the Church. He let me put Promethean boards in the classroom the very first year of the preschool; that was virtually unheard of at the time. In general, he has fully embraced our mission to continue to provide a cuttingedge preschool environment for our precious Tiny Saints. John’s openness to what God can do through each person trickles into our tiny students here on campus. His love, enthusiasm, and trust in me have been some of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.
Pictured: The EEC Celebrating their 10th Birthday!
