FACULTY


Ink Is Love JULIE SIKKINK, HISTORY


E


xploring Julie Sikkink’s desk is like excavating a particularly fascinating


and complex archeological dig. The piles of student papers, notes for class, exhaustive and thoughtful rubrics, books on all sorts of historical, literary and religious topics, stuffed toys, art projects, family photos, voluminous notes on meetings past and yet to come, pens of many colors, and notes from bottles of Crush all combine to show the variety and heart of her work. Like any good archeologist, you’d want to categorize each of your finds in order to get a clear picture of the culture you have discovered. Careful analysis of this particular site reveals a caring, enthusiastic, widely read, and intellectually curious teacher who puts her students at the center of everything she does. Julie’s favorite mantra, “Ink is


love”—which she intones as she hands back essays, quizzes, and comments on presentations— means that her many specific comments on every piece of student work show her care for the quality of student work and thinking. The number of her rainbow-colored comments can be daunting at first glance, but every student knows that she has taken time and thought with her responses to each piece of work. This thoroughness on her part inspires a similar thoroughness among her students. Another familiar mantra to Julie’s colleagues is her commitment to always


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“holding a student high”— expecting the best from her students and challenging them with her positive and optimistic belief in their abilities and their power as thinkers and writers. As a colleague, Julie is


f lexible, hard-working, and collaborative, no matter what the historical material, era, or problem. A veteran of boarding school life, she jumps into school activities with enthusiasm—she was not simply a pretty medieval lady during Spirit Week but “a Kentish princess of the 8th century.”


Julie’s advisee Aashna calls


her an “extremely patient, calm, and wise advisor,” and her generosity is legendary: If you want to borrow almost anything—jester hat or a lapis necklace or some ghee—or if you need to know how to pronounce “ceorl,” need help driving a group to Ashland, need to eat some delicious homemade jam, or need to get the very best, most frighten- ingly complete notes from any faculty meeting…call Julie.


by Debby Schauffler, English teacher


WINTER 2011 OES MAGAZINE 13 13


Julie Sikkink: History Dean of Residential Life Dorm Parent Ripon College, BA University College London, BA Duke University, MA Appointed 2004


"Julie’s favorite mantra, 'Ink is love'—which she intones as she hands back essays, quizzes, and comments on presentations—means that her many specific comments on every piece of student work show her care for the quality of student work and thinking."


— Debby Schauffler


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