In this interview, we sat down with our new Director of Learning Support (Grades 7-12), Mrs. Alex Helwink. Mrs. Helwink previously served as an IS learning specialist, but we are happy to welcome her to the Upper School, as well! 

​​Editor’s Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

1. What made you decide to join Potomac?

I joined Potomac because I was looking for a “forever home” in a school. I was previously at Flint Hill, but I wanted to be somewhere [else] when I started thinking about my career. I felt like Potomac’s blend of intensity, ambition, respect for the brain, plus mental health and wellness felt very much like home to me.

2. How did you get into teaching?

Well, it was a long and bumpy road, but I’ll try to keep it brief. I was a psych/neuropsych major in college, and I was phenomenally interested in child development. I thought I wanted to go into psychology and become a psychologist, but having ADHD myself, I did not want to remain a student at 22. I felt like teaching was a nice blend of psychology, child development, and helping others. It was also something that I could go into without further schooling and make a difference. So, I did a very similar program to Teach for America and very quickly wound up in the classroom.

3. What drew you to the learning support field?

That’s very much an autobiographical passion—sort of rewriting my story. As I mentioned earlier this year when I spoke in front of the [US] student body, I had ADHD and went to a school very similar to Potomac. There was no learning support like there is now, and I floundered. I was a mess. And so I got my start as a teacher, but I was a special education teacher. I was always passionate about helping kids with learning differences and intellectual disabilities, and when I pivoted to a career as a learning specialist in independent schools, I got to be the kind of person and professional in a school that I really needed [when I was] growing up.

4. How has your introduction to the Upper School been?

It’s been great! I think that when people come through the IS, sometimes people worry about the “big, bad, scary” Upper School. But I’ve found that the Upper School is nothing like that. The teachers are super eager, not only to support kids, but also to learn from me, to partner with me, to collaborate with me. I am really impressed with the caliber, not only of students but also of faculty members in this division; they’re really phenomenal.

5. What is your role here in Potomac’s Upper School, and how does it differ from your role in the IS?

My role now is technically 7th through 12th. I’m still in the IS twice per cycle. But last year, in the IS, I was just a learning specialist. I met with students and provided support to them. I would occasionally meet with teachers and with parents to provide them some support and insight for helping their kids. Now, being the Director of Learning Support for the IS and Upper School, I’m doing a lot more. I still function as a learning specialist, but I’m also doing some high level programmatic work with division directors, [including] our new Assistant Head of School for Academics, Dr. Alex Sundman. 

6. How do you interact with students?

It depends on the student. I think that I adapt very quickly to what a student needs. Some students need a very light and positive touch, and some students need a little bit more. Typically with all students, I’m pretty darn friendly. I like to think that I’m approachable and friendly while still being firm in boundaries and expectations. The joke I usually like to make is that I am as much of a Jewish mom at home as I am at school: being warm and loving with a very high bar, but I will help you get there.

7. As the Director of Learning Support, what does a day in your life look like?

Busy. Very busy. It’s hard to describe a single day, as days vary dramatically. A huge part of my day is meeting with kids, but I also have these higher level meetings that are more kind of taking a bird’s eye view of either our curriculum or students, in general. I would say from 7 AM to 4 PM is mostly student meetings, often at least one parent meeting, and then some administrative work here and there. 

8. What’s your favorite aspect of your job?

That’s really hard. I love my job. And no matter how much I really enjoy all of the high level thinking about strategic vision, and evolving the Learning Support program in our school, I really love meeting with kids. I do. That’s got to be my favorite part.

9. What’s something people don’t realize about your job?

I think something people don’t realize about my job is that it requires a lot more data analysis [in order] to do well than people would realize. In this field, there is often a lot of qualitative data that comes in, but trying to quantify student need (whether in on an individual basis or divisionally) is hard. But, it’s very meaningful work that allows you to have bigger and broader conversations about the need[s] of the school.

10. What are some things you like to do outside of Potomac?

I teach yoga sculpt. It’s a fitness class that blends the forms and flow of yoga with weights and cardio. I teach that once a week. I used to teach it like six times a week before I had my daughter, but I love doing that. Probably my favorite other hobby is being a mom. I have a two-and-a-half-year-old, and [that] occupies a lot of my time outside of school, but that’s the best.

11. Do you have a phrase or saying that you live by?

“The only way to it is through it.” I have absolutely no idea who actually said that. I do know that it is thought to be a take on something from Frost. Not the most famous Robert Frost poem, but a different one, in which something is said about there being no other way to something than getting through what it is. 

12. What’s something important you’ve learned so far this year?

What I learned so far this year is that the Upper School is much less scary than kids think before they get here. I think it’s a really supportive place. It is hard, true, but it’s appropriately hard, and there are good supports and resources in place to help kids. As we say in the IS, handle hard better.

13. What’s a fun fact about you that people might not know?

I’ve been to over 40 countries. Before the pandemic, and before having my child, I would usually travel to five or more countries a year. It’s where all of my money and time went outside of school. But since Covid, and since having a child, I don’t travel quite so much. The top three cities in my book, in order, are Amsterdam, Singapore, and Bangkok.

14. What is your favorite Potomac school tradition or event?

I love May Day. I absolutely love May Day. It’s delightfully weird, but I like delightfully weird things, and I love that we hold fast to our traditions, while also evolving them to be more culturally inclusive. I think that’s really awesome.

15. What’s one thing you hope students will take away from their time at Potomac and use for the rest of their lives?

This definitely comes from my roots, but I think the most important takeaway is that it’s your habits that make your results. The results don’t just come; but when things aren’t going your way, you have to drill down into the “how.” It’s really that how you’re doing things, [and] not just the what of what you’re producing. And when you fine-tune those habits to really fit not only your environment but also yourself, that’s where you achieve success.

16. Who has been a major influence on your life, and what did they teach you?

A very divisive character, but one of the people who phenomenally impacted my life at a very vulnerable time in my life, was the psychologist and professor Jordan Peterson. He has definitely said some things that I don’t agree with, but one of the things he talks a lot about is that living your life well can be very, very simple. You can start your day, every day, by just making your bed and having that tiny win. I think that he has a lot to say in the way of living well, especially in community with others. 

17. How do you hope to make a lasting impact on the Potomac community?

I hate to say it–I mean it sounds so silly–but I think about it every day. I think the lasting impact is meeting with kids. When I graduate a kid from coaching and say, “Okay, you’re going to be monitored now; you don’t have to meet with me weekly anymore because you have what you need,” it’s not always [about] the tools; it’s the perspectives. It’s always also the way that they talk about helping themselves. So I think that my impact won’t necessarily be a name on a building. And actually, it would be really, really uncomfortable if that ever happened. But I think that the lasting impact that I hope to have is the students grow[ing] in their understanding of themselves and what they need in order to feel successful and purposeful.