Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass., is a short trolley ride on the “T” from Boston, and has provided career-focused programs for mainly first-generation college students since its founding in 1899. An angel on earth, Sarah A. Stopyra is one of the instructors of funeral service education in Mount Ida's School of Applied Sciences. This work is a calling for Stopyra as she helps tomorrow’s workforce achieve a degree to join an ever-changing profession that provides a critical service to our multicultural society.
Prior to working as an educator, Stopyra was employed as a funeral director and embalmer for more than 10 years. “The gratification I felt from working with families at the worst moments of their lives is truly indescribable,” she says. She passionately describes Mount Ida’s program: “As a 34-year-young, first-generation female funeral director, I realize that I might not exactly be what my students expect to be standing at the front of the classroom on day one. We have an increasing amount of women entering funeral service, and it is important to have a faculty that reflects that.”
Stopyra coaches students to be non-judgmental. “The funeral service is an evolving phenomena, which is wonderfully rich and varying from culture to culture, person to person, and our program embraces that,” she says. “If one wants to work in funeral service for years to come, it is essential to come to the table with an open, creative and non-judgmental mind, which we work with our students to develop.”
Mount Ida offers state-of-the-art facilities and courses. “We are constantly adjusting curriculum to highlight the more nontraditional routes within funeral services, in addition to the traditional routes,” according to Stopyra. When asked about compassion in this field, she thoughtfully replied, “Compassion is, without a doubt, an essential quality of a good funeral director, because the ability or lack of ability to work empathically will quickly be evident to the families you serve.”
Alison Harris is a communications professional in Boston. She served in Gov. Patrick’s administration, held three rising PR positions at Harvard, wrote for the Boston Herald, and worked for Liz Claiborne and Tommy Hilfiger.
Sarah A. Stopyra at Mount Ida College's Funeral Service Education program.
From Boston
Mount Ida College's Sarah A. Stopyra:
A Compassionate Approach to Funeral Service Education
by Alison Harris
THE CONNECTOR’S REGIONAL REPORTS