Nov 6, 2024
Topic: Meet our Alumni
Alumna Lynda (Steckling) Collins sees her life as a series of building blocks. Learning a new skill and then securing a job with exactly that skill set required. Living internationally, and then securing a job that depends on cultural diversity. It’s fate. While most of her jobs were in customer service, each role Collins held positioned her well for the next opportunity. In college, her sales class final presentation was an exercise in persuasion, presentation and closing the deal. She connected with a salesperson who sold copy machines and he shared his tips on a sales pitch. Just out of college, she answered an ad for a newly created telemarketing opportunity at the very same copy machine brand sales office. During the interview, she “sold” the branch manager the very model that she presented in her sales class! It was the selling points she learned in that class that assisted her so well and enabled her to make an impact at that company – so much so that she earned an incentive trip to Greece as a young 20-something employee.
Next was her move to Germany with her new husband who was serving in the Air Force. Returning to the states and living on an Air Force base in Indiana, she landed a job in the prosecuting attorney’s office as the office manager at the tender age of 26. She then returned to Illinois and joined a company in a role supporting the International Sales and Service team. “My time in Germany, immersed in the culture and living off base, gave me an appreciation and respect for other cultures. Studying German all four years of high school was a coincidental building block that made this experience fulfilling. Living in Germany helped build my confidence and enabled me to form strong relationships with the international customers and team members,” Collins says.
When a new job presented itself, Collins was able to tap into the building blocks that she placed long before. “The skills I learned and built in one job, or life experience, transitioned nicely to strengthen my effectiveness in my next role,” she added.
Collins has the same philosophy when it comes to her personal life. As a student at Frost Elementary School and Holmes Middle School, she says, “I really excelled academically under the nurturing environment of the teachers in District 21,” she states. She also was involved in the following activities, among others: theater, field hockey, bowling intramurals, girls basketball, pep club, student council and the newspaper. She was also voted as 8th grade class clown. “I believe that everything you do is a building block to the next thing,” said Collins. “One block prepares you for the next… and so on,” she adds. “I would tell today’s students to focus on their school work, but also get involved and join clubs. Try out new things. The extracurricular activities open you up to meet more and different people and enable you to understand your interests. I would also encourage students to choose part time jobs that are related to careers that might interest them. Find internships. I worked at a fast food restaurant during high school and a telephone market research company during college and I can see how I utilized things that I learned at both jobs later in my career,” she added.
A connection that really resonates with Collins is that her mother, Donna Steckling, worked within District 21 for over 25 years. She has fond memories of being in middle school and helping her mother, who was a library assistant at London Middle School at the time, prepare for the new school year shelving new books. Collins would help in the library and also with new student registration and selling gym uniforms. “From an early age, I was really organized and I could take charge and would readily take on responsibilities. I know that I have displayed the same in all of my job roles,” she states.
Collins’ mother also worked as a secretary in the Curriculum Department at the Administration Center. “My mom couldn’t afford to attend college but always wanted to be a teacher. She lived and breathed District 21 and when she passed away, our family wanted a way to honor her love of learning and compassion for helping new teachers,” she said. In 2021, Collins, along with her siblings Bill Steckling and Janet Reed (who also attended District 21 schools) donated $21,000 and created the Donna Rae Steckling Memorial Educators Grant, which is to be awarded to new teachers each year over seven years.
“We hope this grant will assist new teachers in creating a warm, welcoming and stimulating learning environment for students,” Collins adds. “We also hope that it creates experiences which become the building blocks for future generations.”