Every student passes by the main office on their way into school each morning, but what happens inside its walls is unknown. There are many people that work in the front office here at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, their jobs are all essential for the school’s function. They hold together the foundation of BSM, and that becomes evident when looking behind the scenes on a typical day in the main office.

Parents and students are welcomed by Kathllen Huyck as soon as they enter BSM because her desk is located in the front of the office. Huyck’s primary responsibility as a receptionist is taking calls. Any call to BSM is first answered by Huyck, who can either answer the caller’s question with her knowledge or, if not, connect them to someone else who can. After 8am, students must enter the building with their printer card. Due to all the misplaced and forgotten printer cards, Huyck is always willing to buzz you in. “I would say my favorite part of my job is interacting with both the parents and the kids,” Huyck said.

As you walk further into the office, you come to where Katie Galper’s desk is situated. Galper is currently in her second year at BSM as the attendance office position. She is in charge of sending emails to students with concerns and issues related to their attendance as well as attendance reports. Galper works with the assistant principals to keep them informed of all the policies regarding attendance as well as improving the disciplinary rules through BSM. Many times when either Huyck or Galper is out of the office, they are able to cover for another. “I fill in for [Huyck] on the days she’s not here. We kind of back each other up more than anyone else in the office. I also backup the nurse as well. So here in the office, we all will do a lot of coverage and overlapping to help one another out and to make the school the most efficient as possible,” Gapler said.

The principals and other BSM faculty are spread out in a number of separate offices as you enter the building from the back. Patrice Carlson works in the copy center, which is located directly in the middle of the office. She is in charge of handling requests from teachers for copy jobs, booklet creation, lamination, and supply ordering. She arrives at BSM much earlier than the majority of the other faculty members. This is due to the fact that she must print and prepare packets and worksheets for teachers before the start of the school day, so she begins her day early. “I usually get here at about 6:30am, because there’s a lot of teachers who are here ready to go that early and [I] work until about 2:30pm, which follows the teachers schedule,” Carlson said.

As large numbers of families consider sending their children to BSM each year, Senior High admissions is an essential part of the school’s function. Director of Senior High admissions, Betsy Van Cleve leads this admissions process. “I work with our admissions team, making sure that we are working with prospective families who want to be Red Knights throughout the process but more specifically with families looking at [the senior high],” Van Cleve said.

Like Kathleen Huyck, Betsy Van Cleve’s favorite part of her job is interacting with students. As she works in admissions, seeing students grow is a unique perspective. “Getting to know students from day one, like before they’re even Red Knights and then watching them grow throughout you know, four to six years or even just over the course of a year for some of our senior transfers. It’s pretty cool to be able to see students step foot in the halls as babies, and then watching them walk across the stage during graduation. That’s pretty fun,” Van Cleve said.