Her office is abuzz with activity and the ability to multi-task is a must.
Name: Annette Crawford
School: St. Thomas Aquinas
Residence: North Canton
Age: 52
Job Title: Enrollment coordinator, attendance secretary
How long at district: Three years
Family: Husband of 30 years, Rob; children Ian, Olivia and Ben
What is the most rewarding part of your position? The students. I do everything I can to make their time at school the best part of their day. I always want the kids to know they are loved and someone cares about them. The challenge of growing the enrollment at St. Thomas Aquinas is also very rewarding. I love sharing my passion and love for the school with others.
What is the most challenging? The most challenging part of my day is also one of the reasons that I love my job so much – so much goes on in my office, and often all at the same time, that multi-tasking is a must – answering the phones and the door, being the “nurse” and resident “counselor”, giving tours to potential new families, documenting attendance, listening and talking to the students, and assisting anyone and everyone in the administration and staff in any way I can.
If you weren’t doing this, you’d be... a stay-at-home mom like I had been for the previous 26 years.
Tell us something about the students you deal with most people don’t know or appreciate. Coming from different backgrounds and religions, our kids, many of whom didn’t know each other before coming to Aquinas, become a tight-knit “family” that love and care for each other. We have great kids at St. Thomas.
How do you unwind after a long day at work? I get to go home to our golden retriever, Louie, who has been patiently waiting to unleash a full day’s worth of excitement on me. I enjoy cooking a nice Italian dinner with my hubby and watching something together on Netflix.
The students and coworkers would be surprised to know that you... have three kids who graduated from Aquinas and that I was a cheer coach for 10-plus years.
What is the one responsibility about your position you didn’t know existed before taking it? It’s not really a responsibility, but I didn’t realize how attached I would get to the kids, and how much they would truly mean to me.