At Westridge, like every institution of higher learning, the wheels of learning must keep turning regardless of a pandemic or flood; or in this case, the absence of key members of the Upper School leadership team. 

When the Upper School administration faced several staffing challenges this year, students and staff pulled together to pitch in, fill in, and support when and where needed. Brittany Coker, formerly the Upper School Dean of Student Activities, left in November on a personal leave of absence. As a teacher, advisor, and administrator, Mrs. Coker was responsible for planning All School Day, Prom, and Discovery Week. 

To fill the role left vacant from Ms. Coker’s absence, the Upper School administrative team, lead by Division Director Gary Baldwin, who himself announced in January that he would retire and relocate at the end of the year, stepped in to redistribute roles and responsibilities. 

Mr. Baldwin said, “I won’t pretend that being down team members hasn’t produced a little bit of anxiety in my life.” These unexpected absences proved to be a stressful challenge for both administrators and students, but ultimately, Ms. Coker’s responsibilities were successfully carried out by other faculty.

Farrell Heydorff, Lower and Middle School Dean of Student Activities, was pulled in to help ASB with planning All School Day and managing the Master Calendar, two of Ms. Coker’s former responsibilities as the Upper School Dean of Student Activities. The transition was smooth due to their similar roles. However, as Ms. Coker and Ms. Heydorff had worked closely to plan student activities together, being without Ms. Coker has been a loss for Ms. Heydorff. “It has definitely been different,” Ms. Heydorff said. “Not having that person to bounce ideas off of has been challenging. Also she’s a very good friend of mine.” 

On a brighter note, Ms. Heydorff mentioned how she enjoyed working with ASB and seeing students’ leadership growth. She said, “They were much more organized. It’s good to see the leadership skills that [Upper School ASB] may have acquired in fourth, fifth, sixth grade, and how it transitions into seeing them as seniors.” 

Planning All School Day was a formidable challenge because it was moved up a full month and a half from last year.  “I think [ASB] felt that added pressure, especially the seniors who were in the heat of college decisions coming out,” Ms. Heydorff said. But she added that “they handled it with grace. And they did an awesome job.”

ASB member Mia N. ’24 said, “It’s been hard without [Ms. Coker] there for us. So what we’ve done is that a lot of us ASB members have taken up the slack.” ASB members came together and pulled off ASD and Valentine’s Day Candy Grams, two events Ms. Coker would usually organize. Mia admitted they were challenged to be more independent and responsible for the work. 

In addition to advising ASB, Ms. Coker previously oversaw Discovery Week. With her absence, the responsibility shifted to Ms. Leonard. However, two weeks before Discovery Week, Ms. Leonard was temporarily absent for two weeks. As a result, Vanessa Munoz, the Health Office Assistant, received the responsibility of handling administrative requirements of Discovery Week on top of her original medical responsibilities. From ordering buses, to managing waivers, to making sure chaperones had money for their trips, Ms. Munoz initially found herself overwhelmed, as she was given a list of tasks to complete just two weeks before Discovery Week. She said, “I didn’t know what half [my list] meant. All I knew was that it was important because Discovery Week was in two weeks, and I just had to get it done.” Ms. Munoz did not back down from the challenge and another successful Discovery Week was launched. 

Ms. Munoz said managing Discovery Week helped her grow as a member of the Westridge community, which was something she always wanted to push herself to do. She expressed her love for administrative work and her willingness to be involved again. “Not to toot my own horn,” she said, “but the amazing thing is that I got it done. People see how much I’ve helped, so that’s cool that I put myself out there.”  

Planning prom is another major event which needed support. Every year, the prom committee decides on the theme, reserves a venue, and plans a budget limit. Students explained that Ms. Coker had clearly planned the prom committee’s duties for the year and would inform them step-by-step how to proceed after Winter break. However, since she did not return, the prom committee had to pick up where she left off.  Committee member Jordan B. ’25 said, “Ms. Coker was super organized and would tell us to do this, this, then this. I think the main challenge [with her gone] was probably having to figure out the budget on our own because she had all the budget information.”

Ms. Martinez, who also stepped in to help the prom budget and act as the middleman between the prom committee and the venue, added that the prom committee went about their duties without needing much guidance. “We’re just cruising and we’re on schedule,” she said.  

Although Westridge Upper School faced an unusual situation, students and staff handled it with grace. The student body and numerous faculty members had to adapt by taking initiative. Ms. Heydorff said, “We have to make sure the place still runs. And also, so [students] have a good experience. COVID was not kind to a lot of us. I know a lot of students here have already lost a year and a half of their school experience. And so I want to make sure we don’t have that happen again.” 

Mr. Baldwin believes the challenge of maintaining a positive student experience amidst faculty absences revealed the supportiveness of Westridge’s community and was a learning experience for many. He said, “There have been lots of people who have pitched in with little things that they don’t normally do to just make sure that all the student experiences go on without a hitch.” 

Correction (6:30 pm April 21): 

The previous version of this article stated that Ms. Farrell Heydorff took on many of Ms. Coker’s responsibilities in working with ASB. Ms. Heydorff only helped ASB with planning All School Day. The article has now been updated for accuracy and clarity on Ms. Heydorff’s work with ASB.