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Substitute teaching can lead to a longtime position on our staff, and that’s what happened to Joyce Schrank eleven years ago. This year she is only teaching Psychology and is working part time, but in the past she taught Contemporary Issues, Freshman Seminar, and Journalism. She works with students in the dinner theater and has also taken interim trips to do service work in Mexico and southern California.
However, a primary role for Mrs. Schrank is Guidance Counselor, where she gets to see the growth over the years as students begin to explore what they want to do in their future. “I have the opportunity to pray and visit with each Senior and assist them as they make their post high school plans. It's an incredible process to watch our students grow and mature throughout their four years at Valley. ” she reflects.
What was her pathway to this role at Valley? She says that everything she has done in her life before this seemed to be preparing her for this ministry. Her undergraduate degree is in Psychology from Catawba College in North Carolina and she has done graduate studies in Social Work at the University of Georgia. Her first job after college graduation was as a college admissions counselor. She also was an overnight supervisor at a women’s shelter and the Director of a Crisis Pregnancy Center.
Mrs. Schrank says her first love for Valley was as a parent, as her three children all are alumni of the school. Her son Ben is a pastor in Texas, her son Aaron is a radio journalist with NPR in Los Angeles, and her daughter Jessica is a Lutheran school teacher in Orange, California. Her husband Jeff is the pastor at Christ Church Lutheran.