R E T IR EM EN T
Glenna Lykens A LESSON IN HOW LEADERSHIP AND CARING CAN COEXIST
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hose who know Glenna Lykens know she loves the Iditarod sled dog race held annually in Alaska. It is also a yearly tradition for her to post race updates, standings, and sled dog trivia on a bulletin board outside her office to help students follow along and help them understand some of the nuances of the event. Maybe the information that is posted because of her passion for the event can help some students see a correlation between the race and their own lives: how to persevere; the value of hard work; the value of a team. Lykens uses the board to help students understand that they have to find their place. There are lead dogs: those who stay in front, stay on the trail. Swing dogs are right behind the leader. They “swing” the sled when the trail curves. In people, that equates to people who support the leader and who figure out a way to make the team follow along, acting as bridges between the leader and the rest of the team. Then there are the team dogs—the workers, the engine. There are also wheel dogs that run right in front of the sled itself, calm-tempered, because the sled is right behind them. Strong and steady. Trustworthy. In many ways, Lykens has played each of these roles at Sycamore.
BEFORE coming to Sycamore School in 1999, Lykens taught at elementary schools in Ohio and North Carolina. She worked at Treehouse Tales, a children’s bookstore in Indianapolis, where she helped the owner guide school teachers as they chose books to integrate into their curriculum. It was a perfect out-ofclassroom break for Lykens, a renowned book lover. “I helped teach a children’s literature class for teachers working on continuing credits to keep their license updated.” But she soon felt the pull of the classroom. “I wanted to move back to a classroom and teach again,” Lykens says. Diane Borgmann,
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