News Archive
A Family Practice
This piece originally appeared in the Fall & Winter 2021 edition of 1968 Magazine.
On August 18, 2021, we spoke with three alumni members of the Salky family, all of whom have taken paths into the healthcare field: Sarah ‘01, Rebecca ‘11 (Becca), and father Steven.
Becca remembers Burke as the place she met her best friends and grew close with so many teachers, including Elizabeth Sislen and Daniel Running, both of which still teach in the English Department, and longtime Head of Middle School Monica Miracky, who passed away in summer 2020 after 40 years at Burke. Becca says, “the closeness they allowed stood out” – and paved the way for her to attend Skidmore College and to develop those same connections with professors.
Sarah began at Burke in 1995. Before selecting a school, she sat in on Nigel's 7th grade linguistics class – literally, as numerous students elected to sit on the floor and Nigel didn’t object*. Between the small size of the class and its emphasis on creative thought, she came home “wide-eyed” that a school existed that could meet her needs.
* Nigel retired in June 2021 after 34 years at the school.
What memories stand out?
Sarah: Being able to participate in sports. I wanted to be able to compete and that may not have been possible at a larger school. I even did wrestling for one trimester, and did cross-country with David [Panush]. We approached learning without the strict boundary of “you must do it this way.” As long as we were still absorbing the knowledge, you didn’t have to do it the traditional classroom way. Teachers just ran their classrooms in a way that worked for different people; teachers could be creative.
Becca: I did so much theater with Richard [Carlson] and really wasn’t an athlete, so they let me do extra arts credits and just manage teams. [Burke was] such a personalized experience, with the understanding that every student was different. I needed to miss some time in 11th grade, and Burke restructured it so that I could still have the full education, but without the pressure.
Steve: I served on the Board of Trustees for many years with Head of School David Shapiro, and the individualized learning approach was what we were looking for as parents. We have two other daughters at different DC schools, and we wanted them all to have different experiences and be able to separate themselves. [Sarah and Becca] were able to do that by being at a school that gave them personalized attention and molded the content for their specific strengths and weaknesses. Our kids were not lost in the shuffle of a bigger, more traditional school.
Do you sense the School has changed since your time here, and how?
Steve: My experience is that things have not changed dramatically. We had a big debate about the stress on academic rigor and letting Burke be Burke, and not try to change. I was probably of the view that Burke could stress academics without affecting its longevity
What paths did you take after graduation?
Becca: Inspired by Brandy [Menzel], I went to Skidmore and planned to study theater, before shifting to psychology and neuroscience, informed by my own health needs. I ultimately completed an accelerated Bachelor’s in nursing and worked at George Washington University, and I’m now doing research at Mass General on my own autoimmune disease. I’m working on clinical trials for new medications, supervised by my original neurologist. It took twenty years to receive my diagnosis and I had always done my own research, starting in the Burke library.
Steve: Rebecca’s doctor, a leading researcher in the field, wanted Rebecca to work with him because she has so much personal knowledge about this disease. This has become a true team effort between the two of them.
Sarah: Burke provided that sense of confidence for us, to believe in ourselves and ask for what we need. I went to Kenyon College and played DIII soccer. It was a great experience to play the sport that I loved for 4 years. Right after college, I went down the path that I always had – differentiating myself from siblings!
I moved to Boulder and, after a few years, went back to school for psychology. I’m now the Director of Operations at a 96-bed inpatient hospital, as well as two out-patient off-sites.
I oversee licensing, quality, on-boarding, risk management, and operational crisis – mental health is a challenge for staff as well as patients.
Steve: I am a very latecomer to health care! I practiced law for close to 40 years. My dad was a physician and, while I rejected going to medical school early in my life, his influence has always called to me. Rebecca and Sarah’s careers have given me inspiration, so I start nursing school officially on August 30. I’m spending a lot of time doing the preparation, which is fairly daunting for me because my computer skills are ancient (or new, because I never had them). this is a new challenge for me. I like to be tested, in the sense of learning something new and not being satisfied with what I already know.
Sarah: It was always instilled in us both to have expertise in some capacity. We are all in the giving profession in one way or another, and that speaks to our values as a family. We do hard, sometimes unrewarding work. It’s daunting. But nurses are probably the most needed in the field right now – and therapists, for sure.
How had COVID affected those plans?
Sarah: I was on maternity leave for most of the lockdown, as my son was born two weeks before. I went through the culture shock of returning to work right away, as hospitals don’t stop, and not being able to hug or touch my colleagues. We are definitely seeing an increase in patients with substance abuse, exacerbated by isolation. Colorado called a mental health emergency for kids. It’s so hard to see how COVID has impacted mental health for people, and I’m just grateful we can offer a safe place to them.
Becca: I actually moved to part-time in February 2020. I was doing day and night shifts, three 12-hour shifts, sometimes 16-hour shifts. I was already down-shifting and then chose to leave in April. Patients couldn’t have visitors. My last act was to petition for a dying man to see his family in-person. In the following six months, I started support groups for people with my autoimmune disease, and we now have 6-10 people each week. I also emailed my doctor with a concern, and he asked what I was doing. And then he asked again to come work for him at Mass General. I have been at this job since February 2021.
Steve: I think Burke gave both of them a great foundation: the value of community and self-realization.
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