Staff Appreciations: Vickie, Louise, and Lynn
Louise Steinfort with the Midde School Friends House Committee.
Lynn Darman with this year's Lower School SPARK students.
Vickie Garner, who has been at SSFS since 1987, Louise Steinfort, who started working in Admissions in 1991, and Lynn Darman, who became the LS Head in 1995, will all be moving on to new ventures next year. We wanted to appreciate all the contribuVickie Garner as Tatiana with her boys Robert and Stephen in the 1997 Communuity Play production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Vickie Garner has been a significant presence and meaningful contributor to the Sandy Spring Friends School community for 24 years. As Director of Admission from 1987 to 2001, Vickie was responsible for overseeing all aspects of admission and enrollment management for the School. “In the first years of my work at SSFS,” Vickie recalls, “the greatest challenge was getting people to the campus. As Brook Moore was known for saying, 'The minute you set foot onto the campus, you could feel the powerful spiritual center of the place.' I felt that when I first came to interview with Ruthann Fagin, Ari and Nancy Preuss, Anne Morley, Bob Hoch, John Staehle, and Ed Hinshaw.” She continues,
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tions these special women have given to the school throughout the years, and to wish them all the very best in the years to come. “I remember leaving the interview thinking how lucky I had been to meet such an amazing group of people. My initial goal had been to secure a teaching position; however, I knew I could learn so much from working together as an administrator with the incredibly bright, creative, fun, and enthusiastic people at SSFS.” During her 14-year tenure in admissions, Vickie worked to expand the admissions outreach and marketing efforts, welcomed Louise Steinfort and Linda Cooper as colleagues, interviewed over 2,000 families, and enrolled nearly 1,200 students. She was a leader in the AISGW and AIMS admissions groups and presented workshops for both organizations as well as for SSATB, TABS, and NAIS.
In the late 1980s and well into the 1990s, the whole SSFS community worked hard to meet the enrollment goals. By the year 2000, the school was fully enrolled by June 1st, with waiting lists for many grades. It was time for Vickie to find a new challenge. In January 2001, Ken Smith announced a national search for the school’s first full-time Director of College Counseling. He found that person in his own backyard, and Vickie moved across the lawn from Hartshorne to Moore Hall, where she has worked with every senior going through the college search process for the past 10 years. “Being a part of the Upper School has been a great honor. Every member of the faculty and staff, especially Frances Lambrecht, has been a great gift in my life,” says Vickie. SSFS Community News