Longtime school employee moves from main school office work to administration support.
When one moves from one of the most visible positions at NDPMA to one of the least visible, it's natural for some in the Notre Dame community to wonder what happened to that "one."
Count longtime Notre Damer Carrie Lytle as that one. She spent six years working alongside another school fixture, Mary Jane Pasko, in the main office of NDPMA, which as many know, is always buzzing with excitement and visitors.
Lytle now is working in a rather discreet office near the school's IT department.
"I can't tell you how many people have said or thought that I had left the school," said Lytle, who now works as an executive administrative assistant with primary responsibilities for head of school Andy Guest and corporate president Fr. Leon Olszamowski, s.m. "I'm just as involved with Notre Dame, but in different ways."
The position was created in May of 2017 to provide administrative and office support for both Guest and Olszamowski, but to also support the Board of Trustees. Lytle interviewed for the position and was offered it shortly thereafter.
According to HOS Guest, Lytle has one of the most difficult jobs in the school.
"Not only does she provide administrative support for me, she also assists Fr. Leon and the Board of Trustees," he said. "She is always busy. And what I really like about Carrie is that she always has a positive attitude, no matter what."
A typical day for Lytle that can sometimes test that positive attitude involves answering administration-related phone calls and emails, scheduling and coordinating meetings and appointments, maintaining "constantly-changing" calendars, setting up and attending all meetings of the board and its executive committee, taking, proofing and circulating minutes for all those meetings "and honestly doing whatever needs to be done on any given day," she said.
Lytle works in an office near the school’s IT department.
"In many ways, the assistants at Notre Dame really run the school," Guest said. "We wouldn’t function very well without the likes of Carrie, Kathy Bowers, Amy McLeod, Mary Jane Pasko, Joan Kopytek and Sue Emerick. Our admins often are our first line of defense and that especially holds true with the ones who interact with our students."
For Lytle, whose son, Benjamin, graduated from NDP last year, she said she misses that day-to-day interaction with the students, but is nonetheless very happy in her new position.
"I enjoy what I'm doing very much," she said. "Andy and Fr. Leon are wonderful to work for and keep the job challenging as well as rewarding and fun. The Board members are a group of dedicated professionals who are also fabulous to work with. I feel blessed to have been part of the Notre Dame family going back 15 years beginning as a volunteer and moving to employment first at the lower division. It truly has been great."
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org