Miriam O Regan Roman
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By Julie Sykes
Sometimes you get lucky . Little did Janet Sughrue and I know , in August of 1998 , that Miriam O ’ Regan would become such a major factor in the life of Saint David ’ s School and , personally , in our own lives . We were looking to hire an admissions assistant who could handle all the paperwork , phone work , scheduling , data , etc . associated with this position . Miriam came with so much more than we had ever dreamed .
When we interviewed her , Miriam presented as a professional , competent , conscientious person who was somewhat reserved , but courteous and lovely . Everybody who met her was impressed ; she had great recommendations and she was hired .
Miriam worked in the Admissions department for 17 years . Janet and I felt blessed to have her as part of our team . Miriam was truly the best . She kept impeccable records – she had a massive binder with every family ’ s information carefully inserted between plastic sheathing . She regularly stayed late or came in on weekends to get to the unfinished work of the busy season . She managed scheduling admission appointments for parents to tour the school and for boys to come for their interviews . As complex as this task could get , Miriam handled it with utmost professionalism and competence . Miriam was the first to greet parents when they arrived with their son for the initial introductory process , which is a
“ The list is endless , what a gift she was to Saint David ’ s !”
stressful time for parent and child . Miriam would bend down , greet the little boy , eye-to-eye , and warmly welcome him to Saint David ’ s . No parent or child could ask for a gentler , kinder greeting .
When Miriam arrived at the Admissions department , pink slips for phone messages , paper files for applicant student records , and typed contracts for new and re-enrolling students were the norm . Miriam managed all this with perfection . She did , however , have two major Admissions challenges in those years : learning to use the Blackbaud database system and learning to manage the mail merge . She worked through these challenges and , with guidance from Esther Formosa in the Headmaster ’ s office , soon became a wiz at both Blackbaud and mail merges .
Another big challenge in every Admissions office was and continues to be “ no mistakes with admission notifications .” Never in Miriam ’ s career with us was a mistake made – no decline letters found their way into a supposed accept envelope or vice versa . Over 8,000 letters were sent out manually in those years – Miriam ’ s careful , patient eye kept us all out of trouble .
People often heard and wondered about the laughter coming through the doors of the Admissions office . The truth is … our team had a wonderful time together . Whether it was Janet and Julie , ( sadly , our beloved Janet , who had the best sense of humor of all , passed away in 2015 ) or Julie , Carol Dillon , and Lisa Sippel , Miriam was always with us , getting the joke and enjoying the comradery .
From 2011-2017 , Miriam continued her successful admissions work with Allison
14 • Saint David ’ s Magazine