JOYCE SHERRY

5/12/2020

ENGLISH, DEAN OF STUDENTS | JSHERRY@YORK.ORG

The Multifaceted Woman

By Kim Kiest, Math and Science

York School has allowed Joyce to explore multiple incarnations of herself. She came to the School in 1998 to act as a one year sabbatical replacement for the Director of Theatre, ultimately staying on in the post for nine years. Simultaneously, she served as the Eighth Grade Dean, a position she found so rewarding that when offered the chance to support all the students at York, she jumped at the opportunity, leaving behind the theatre world in which she had lived her entire life to that point. Occasionally, someone asks Joyce if she misses all the acting and directing she used to do; her heartfelt response is that she finds her current role as Dean of Students so rewarding, she celebrates this latest incarnation.

Though the title often holds different connotations in other schools, at York, the Dean of Students is primarily a counseling position, and Joyce has dedicated hours and years to professional development, expanding her knowledge and fortifying her skills as a counselor. She has attended many extended workshops on techniques of counseling adolescents, topics in 21st century adolescent experience, adolescent sexuality, queer studies, parenting adolescents, and others. She has taken several graduate level courses including adolescent psychology, family therapy, therapy modalities, and ethics in therapy. All of this study and her years of experience as York's Dean of Students have increased her deep affection for teenagers and their parents.

A valued colleague and close friend of Joyce says of her, "As Dean of Students, she has the complicated but rewarding task of guiding students down a healthy and productive path. Students seek her out daily to share ups and downs in their daily lives both on and off campus. She is a trusted confidante and provides valuable advice to those in need. Students also have the benefit of puppy therapy when visiting with Joyce, as her trained Therapy Dog, Cleo, is always there with a wet nose and a friendly paw." Joyce has published a book about Cleo's early years learning to be a therapy dog at York.

In addition to her daily visits with students, Joyce meets with and supports their parents, as well. She also developed and facilitates PATH, the School's advisory program; created, coordinates, and teaches the Peer Helper Program; introduced Mindfulness to the School and teaches a twice weekly Mindfulness meditation class; writes and curates an advice and well-being site for York students; and publishes a monthly (or occasionally more frequent) podcast for parents of adolescents. To keep a hand in the classroom, a place Joyce loves to be, she teaches the eighth grade English and Speech classes. And as a way to revisit her roots, she brings her theatre director's eye to the monumental task of overseeing the end-of-year Awards Day and Commencement celebrations each year.

Back