Intermediate and Middle School Dean of Student Life Siobhan Allen is leaving Parker at the end of the academic year after receiving the position of Dean of Students at Beacon Academy, a Montessori-based high school with an International Baccalaureate (IB) program in downtown Evanston. Because of Beacon’s relative infancy (the school opened in 2014), Allen will serve as the school’s first Dean of Students—a position nearly equivalent to her current position at Parker. Allen will be replaced by history teacher Tray White from Augusta, Georgia.

Intermediate and Middle School Division Head John Novick selected Allen’s replacement. “We were really careful,” Novick said.  “Ms. Allen is incredible, so if you’re going to replace someone incredible, you need to take your time.”

Novick carefully considered each applicant to find a suitable replacement for Allen, who—having been at Parker since 2006—feels like the transition is bittersweet. “Right now it feels very surreal,” Allen said. “I feel like I owe this place a lot because it’s given me so much.”

Allen will use the skills she acquired at Parker to bolster the quality of student life at Beacon. “Besides just clubs, activities, working with their athletic director,” Allen said of her role, “it’s really honing in on how do they define themselves as a place where they can hold each other accountable and say this is part of the Beacon identity.”

In order to achieve the school’s vision, Allen will utilize the knowledge she amassed working with students in Parker’s intermediate and middle schools. “Here, I’ve really learned how to ask the reason why,” Allen said about her time at Parker. “Working on gradual change for more impactful change is a skill I’ve really learned.”

Allen’s accumulation of knowledge at Parker began in 2006 when she began serving as the Assistant Soccer Coach for both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams. Two years later, Allen commenced her service as Intermediate and Middle School Coordinator—a position she held for six years—prior to serving as the IS/MS Dean of Student Life.

Throughout her years as a full-time member of the Parker faculty, Allen coached several Parker sports teams—including girls’ basketball and boys’ and girls’ soccer—and served as an advisor to a handful of advisories in the middle school.

The variety of roles that Allen has assumed at Parker has provided her with the ability to form bonds with the students—which was appealing to Beacon because they wanted to establish a position in which forming relationships is imperative.

“How do you create a dean role that’s not just so discipline-focused that also has a relationship component to students?” Allen said, referring to the questions Beacon considered in their process of establishing the position of Dean of Students. “The reputations of deans have been that you only go there for discipline. That doesn’t necessarily build for relationships. They’ve heard about our roles—Mr. Bielizna and mine—at Parker.”

Several students at Parker spoke to enjoying their relationships with Allen. “She’s very good at giving advice,” sophomore Lauryn Rauschenberg, a goalkeeper on the girls’ soccer team, said.  “If I have a problem, she very easily finds a solution. She’s also very motherly in that she’s very comforting, and she knows exactly what to say in any situation.”

When Rauschenberger felt discouraged during soccer season this spring, Allen helped her regain her self-confidence. “I didn’t feel like I belonged on the team, or that I was wanted or needed on the team,” Rauschenberger said. “She reassured me that I very much was. She showed me a scrapbook that she had of soccer and showed me other past keepers and stuff about them that she sees in me.”

Rauschenberger is not the only recipient of Allen’s kindness and willingness to go out of her way to help the student body. On May 23, Beacon required Allen to attend a session to plan for the following school year. “She had an appointment at 10:00 and was going to be there most of the day,” Novick said.  “She lives a long way from Parker. She drove here to meet with her advisory for 15 minutes, and then she went back to Evanston.”

As a result of the relationships she has formed with students like her advisees and Rauschenberger, Allen is slightly glum about leaving Parker. “I did not know or necessarily want to leave Parker,” she said. “I think at the same time it’s important to challenge yourself to see what’s out there because I still believe personally that I’m a lifelong learner. When offered the position, I felt like I could contribute to their community.  It was a place for me to grow and challenge my skills.”