Elle Sypek
Position: Mental Health Administrator / SEL Specialist
School: STRIVE Prep - Montbello
School District: STRIVE Prep
City, State: Denver, CO
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Music that Describes Elle
Elle Sypek was nominated by her colleague and former intern, Nina Muller.
"Elle was my supervisor for my social work internship at STRIVE Prep - Montbello during the 2018-2019 school year," said Muller. "During that year, she defined for me all of the qualities I wanted to emanate going forward in my career. She modeled a passion for school community-building, an unfailing commitment to connecting with all students and supporting them when they needed her, a nurturing spirit, patience, and unwavering positivity that eventually cracked through the hard facades of even the most suspicious, untrusting children. Her love for students and their families shone from her; it was impossible to miss."
As the school social worker, Ms. Sypek goes above and beyond, not only in her ability to form trusting, positive connections with students and families, but in her actions to provide equitable educational, recreational, and skill-building opportunities for students and families. One of her most defining characteristics is the passion with which she works to ensure that children with trauma are able to receive an excellent education. These children may have trouble with self-regulation, and they might present with behaviors that can be disruptive in a classroom. To help these children, Ms. Sypek has made cases for decreases in student suspensions, implemented a mandatory school-wide social-emotional curriculum, and frequently coached teachers on the impact of trauma and helpful teacher responses to escalated students. She collects and distributes resources to families dealing with housing instability or food scarcity, de-escalates students so they are more quickly able to return to class, and created a spot for a mental health professional on the school’s administrative team so she could provide even more leadership to teachers around the mental health needs of students. Ms. Sypek embodies what it means to be working towards a “trauma-informed school,” and she is steering a willing staff and student population towards this gold standard.
Ms. Sypek is not content to work her job and go home at the end of the day. She works frequently after school to provide additional opportunities for students and families. She has worked as the girls' soccer coach for several years, providing the girls not only with a recreational activity, but a leadership opportunity. Additionally, she created a girls' leadership club named “Puma Prodigies,” which met weekly after school (pre-COVID, in person) to discuss and participate in service learning opportunities, acts of leadership around the school and in the community, and mental health wellness-building lessons and activities. She is committed to providing students, especially female students, with leadership opportunities that will contribute to their personal development and ultimate success.
"I am now the school social worker at STRIVE Prep - Federal, and I work with Elle as my colleague and my clinical supervisor for my licensure hours," said Muller. "Elle has taken on a new position this year as the school mental health administrator, and she is also working as the social-emotional learning specialist. This is her fourth year at STRIVE Prep - Montbello. During that time, she has connected with countless students and families, ensuring they feel safe, loved and welcomed at school. She has created a space for mental health at the school that has benefited countless students. If Elle hadn't created space to understand these students, it would result in decreased school buy-in, attendance, and success. I truly believe Elle was an exceptional school social worker, and is an exceptional administrator, social-emotional learning specialist, human, colleague, and friend. Anyone who crosses her path is lucky to have gotten that opportunity and better for having known her."
It's such an honor having Ms. Sypek working on our campus. Not only does she focus on the immediate importance of student and staff mental health, but she works proactively to make sure our school is trauma informed. She has converted one of our rooms into a space to keep food, and clothes (formal, winter, non-seasonal specific casual) for individuals at our campus who may need them. And she sends food bags home every week to ensure all students have what they need. She is truly a transformative person, and a life changer indeed. It is an honor working with her.
Elle Sypek. Remember that name; because if you ever have the privilege to meet this amazing woman, she will change your life. And I mean that. Elle is the first person to speak up about supporting families at our school, on our shared campus, in our community, and in our network. The ideas she has always become a reality. This includes her idea to establish a COVID community support fund for our network that become a reality and raised tens of thousands of dollars to support hundreds of families in our community. Or how about her idea to make our community Trunk or Treat a resource opportunity and gathered enough resources to provide bags of canned goods and food to 150+ families as well as offering coats, clothing, hats, gloves, and shoes. Or even her desire to support families during the holiday season this year, creating a massive Amazon network-wide gift list so that we could provide joy and resources to students and their loved ones. The simple fact is that I could keep listing her ideas and their impact for pages and pages. Elle is one of a kind. She would never ask for this award, but I bet she already has ideas of how to use it to create even greater change for our community, because that's just who she is.
Elle I’m always inspired but your heart for the Montbello and greater STRIVE Prep community. You are incredibly deserving of this nomination!!
Elle is an amazing social worker who is pioneering the SEL specialist role at our school. She is so deserving of this nomination because she has devoted herself to serving the students at STRIVE Prep Montbello and works tirelessly each day to meet our goals. From her strategic work in developing our SEL programming and fleshing out how mental health supports integrate with our MTSS program, to her direct work supporting students, Elle will not stop at "just good enough." She strives for excellence in all that she does. I am so grateful to have her on our team at STRIVE Prep Montbello!
Elle is the best supervisor ever! Shes not only so knowledgeable and an incredible teacher but also so sweet and welcoming. Kids LOVE her so much end she makes everyone’s days better??
Ms.Sypek is a blessing to the students she works with. She is consistently named as a trusted adult by students at our school and works very hard to earn that status with them. She is definitely a life changer!
Ms. Sypek is one of the most thoughtful, intelligent, and committed people I've ever encountered in a school setting and beyond. When I am working with students in need of extra help, I routinely have people outside of the school community hear about the lengths to which we go for our students and marvel at them. Ms. Sypek is the driving force behind these efforts. She is constantly meeting with, checking in, and working together with our students who need support, care, and love. What's more, she works to ensure that regardless of her schedule, limitations, and experiences, that each student has access not only to her care, but to the care that she can connect them with. In this way she puts the student first always, and selflessly and tirelessly works to ensure that every child has exactly what they need. I am a new member of this school community and Ms. Sypek worked with me to include me in the community and help me access the resources I needed to be my best self with my students and have the support to be a support. In this way Ms. Sypek is responsible for the work that I do with all of my students being trauma informed, sensitive, and connected to the broader cultural focus of meeting the students where they are at and working with the whole child. Ms. Sypek empowered me because of her care and awareness of the role each member of the communities she is a part of plays in the lives of her number one focus, the kids. I am lucky to work with a person like Ms. Sypek. Giving her this award is a no brainer.
Elle is one of the most impactful individuals I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Whether it be in her role as a mental health provider where she is a constant for so many of our students, seeking to provide for the necessities that many of our students need but don't have with food and clothing programs, or being a strong role-model on the field for our girls soccer team, it's difficult to find students who haven't been blessed by her influence in their lives. Elle Sypek is embodies student advocacy.
I can't think of anyone else who deserves this award more than Elle Sypek! I have worked with Elle for the past 2 years. I can honestly say that Elle is one of THE most genuine people that I have ever met. She goes above and beyond her job title every day to make sure our students and staff are all healthy and safe. The passion she brings to her work is to be admired. Her contagious smile, warm heart and just all around amazing personality is what makes her special and so deserving of this award. Elle is not only my coworker but she is one of my very dear friends and as far as a life-changer goes, I can testify to that fact because she's absolutely changed mine!
Elle Sypek is a life changer every, single, day. She is the epitome of putting students first at our school, and she pushes all of our school to keep that priority number one. Elle does this by asking thoughtful questions, volunteering help at every turn, and being intentionally present. She truly gets to know students, families, and community members so that she is providing the right supports at the right time. There is nothing that she wouldn't do to serve students better. Furthermore, she doesn't consider herself to be a "life changer" or a savior of anyone, but instead a partner walking alongside people that she loves. Thank you for everything you do, Elle!
Elle is truly a life changer and is well deserving of this award. I have had the pleasure of working with Elle the last three years, and I have personally seen the impact she has on her community, students, colleagues as well as me personally. Through seeing Elle work, I have learned how to better connect with students allowing me to better serve them. Elle leads with compassionate, resilience, empathy and a positive approach. She builds a rapport with students that allows her to gain their trust and confidence thereby allowing her to help them in their counseling and life goals. Elle spends her free time cheering students on at basketball games, coaching, taking students on tours of high schools so they can find the perfect fit, spearheading community food/clothing drives and so much more. Elle is able to identify needs in her students and community and then collaborates with others to help meet those needs. She truly cares about her students and the wider community and her impact is seen on so many different areas. Elle is a lifechanger!!
Elle truly changes every life she touches for the better. I am uniquely lucky to have had her as a supervisor last year, and as a colleague and teammate this year, and she inspires me every single day with her 100% mind, heart and soul dedication to the students and community in Montbello. She brings so much passion and joy to the table that it makes me want to be a better social worker and a better person.
I have not even had the great privilege of meeting Elle in person, but have heard others sing her praises throughout our network of approx 450 teachers and educators. I am blown away by the efforts she has organized to support her school's community, and how that has bled into all 10 of our schools, with over 3500 students served. Organizing mass food deliveries from the very start of the pandemic was no small feat, and I am so grateful that Elle has extended her superpowers beyond the realm of just her school or her area of Denver. Every single student, teacher, and family in STRIVE Prep is better off because of her fight for equity and safety in this crazy difficult time.
I have had the pleasure and privilege of working closely with Elle both within education, and with her as my Assistant Coach for the Varsity Girls Soccer Team at STRIVE Prep - RISE. Elle is an extremely hard worker in which she gives everything she has and still wants to give even more. Elle's ability to form meaningful and trusting relationships with some of our most vulnerable scholars is unmatched by almost any other educator I have worked with. Elle makes any community she works with a better place!
I could sing of her praises all day! She continues to be a fierce advocate for students and is always finding ways to support them. I remember a time where a student went into a hospital overnight. She was the only person that was there with this student. She also has held drives to make sure that students have the things they need. This speaks volumes about the person that she is. I am proud to have worked beside her.
Elle pours her heart into supporting our students and families even in normal times, but had gone above and beyond to make sure the community has what it needs during this strange COVID time. Thank you for everything you are doing Elle, your community is a brighter place because of it!
I've been lucky to have worked alongside Elle for 3 wonderful years at STRIVE Prep-Montbello. In those three years, Elle has been a trusted adult to countless students, who continue to name her as a trusted adult, even after moving on from middle school. Her joy is contagious, and her love and care for her students and their families, fierce. I don't know of a person more deserving of this nomination than Elle! Congrats, Elle-- you make the Turtle Team so proud, and I am constantly inspired by your work.
Oh I LOVE this. Go Elle!!
I had the pleasure of working with Ms. Sypek last year! Simply put, her work speaks for itself. Besides leading some incredible efforts to support scholars in our entire network, she is constantly revisioning and reimagining ways to develop scholars in partnership with the community, families, and teachers. Scholars come out more whole when she works with them!
Elle consistently goes above and beyond to support our students and families. Elle doesn't stop, she doesn't quit. If there is an obstacle in her way, she always finds a way around it. She never loses sight of supporting our students!
Elle is such a star in the STRIVE Prep network and greatly deserves this recognition and award!! From facilitating food banks to creating resource rooms on campus to running Holiday Gift Drives and leading social-emotional learning practices, she is always putting our students and families first and finding new ways to partner with them! Thank you, Elle, for all that you do to support the STRIVE Prep community through mental health work and creating wrap around supports. We appreciate you!
Elle is incredible! She goes above and beyond to support students and families , and not just in our school but in the entire community. She has created a robust resource room at her school with food, clothing, etc. that anyone can access. She creates strong partnerships with community orgs to provide additional resources. She also started the Crisis Relief Fund that supports anyone in our network (students, staff, families) with grants and food deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has given over 120 grants and $100,000. We are so lucky to have her in our STRIVE Prep community!
What a great nomination for a great person! Mental Health is hard to begin with - but it sounds like you have opened the doors to many and have welcomed them to work through it together. We all know that this does not happen overnight. Your hard work and dedication has really paid off! The positive environment that you have created has brought the best out in people!! Congratulation Elle!!
I have never met a person so deserving of this award. Elle is the strongest student advocate I have ever known. She has a joyful, infectious spirit and truly cares for everyone around her. She makes relationships with our students that survive way beyond the students' time in middle school. I have had the pleasure of having her model mindfulness lessons and social emotional learning circles with my students. I was struck by her vulnerabilty and passion as she built deep connections with our students which helped to strengthen the community bonds between us. She is an inspiration to me and continually demonstrates what a selfless servant of others looks like!
This is one of those times when my momma heart is proud....I have seen this sweet girl personally pick and load up at the food bank, clear out entire work rooms so they could be transformed to store clothing and blankets and toiletry items for student families, orchestrate all-community family events filled with fun and I have prayed as she has made a way for students to get to school and meetings when they otherwise might not. As your schools social worker and now mental health administrator, you have a beautiful gift of seeing every student in a much broader lens of love and compassion. And this....is what makes me the proudest..... You have an unwavering ability to stay focused on what is genuinely the most important....the education, development, confidence and kindness of every one of your students!
Congratulations Elle! I pray this nomination for “Lifechanger of the Year” will help you to humbly see all the ways you are being lead to influence others with your big, audacious love. ??. #LCOY
Elle has such a big heart and is one of the sweetest, most caring humans I have ever met. She's selfless, kind, and always willing to jump in and help others. Congratulations on this nomination, so well deserved :)
Elle is so deserving of this honor. Rarely in life do we come across a rare gem like Elle. She is kind, smart, beautiful and completely gives all of herself to those in need. I am honored to know her.
Elle is one incredible human who is so deserving of Lifechanger of the Year recognition. She's one of the most compassionate and dedicated humans I've ever met. When I visited her on campus last year, I could feel how loved and appreciated she was by all of the students at school. She works tirelessly to bring mental health to the forefront of each community she touches and it's inspiring how she strives to make her campus more trauma informed. Elle champions her students and is their biggest cheerleader. I couldn't be prouder to have seen firsthand the tangible change she brings to her students. Congratulations, Elle, so proud of you!
Elle is one of those incredible people that not only makes a difference in your life, but also inspires you to be a better person. Knowing her renews my faith in people and gives me hope for the future.
Elle Sypek is a true asset to our community! She has such a positive impact on our students, families and staff and is always proactive around supporting them. Elle began a resource room for our school/community that provides food, clothing, school supplies, houseware, etc. to families in need. She immediately advocated for a Crisis Relief Fund for our families in the Strive Prep network in March 2020 in response to the repercussions families were experiencing with COVID. This fund went on to raise over $100,000 for our community members and Elle was there picking up, packing up and delivering food across the Denver area every week as a part of the crisis relief. Sypek brings joy to all our staff and students each day and goes above and beyond her role at our school to ensure a trauma-informed approach, use of restorative practices, mindfulness and all around joy, safety and support. She is an invaluable member of our community!
These words could not ring more true!!!! Elle gives her heart and soul to her work with her students, families, and the Montbello community!
I knew that Ms. Sypek was special from the moment that I heard her voice over the Zoom call. I felt my anxiety immediately decrease by about 50% while intently listening to what she had to say, and I am confident that others have also experienced and benefitted from her warm, calming demeanor. If the feeling of "home" could be embodied in a person, that person's name would be Elle.
