York faculty welcomed Tim Dykes to fulfill the new role as assistant principal for culture and climate. Dykes joined the faculty in July and is eager to design this fresh role with responsibilities such as overseeing the deans and handling building operations.
Dykes was born and raised near-by in Mount Prospect while attending John Hersey High School. He received his bachelor’s in history at North Park University in Chicago as well as his master’s in educational leadership at Northeastern Illinois. When asked what sparked his passion for pursuing a role in education, Dykes emphasized it was his profound interest in social studies class.
“I was really lucky, during my sophomore year, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and I really had some awesome high school social studies teachers,” Dykes said.
Dykes previously had the opportunity to be the dean’s assistant at Leyden High School in which he would teach two classes, and then be a dean the other half of the day.
“The dean’s job is very misunderstood, a lot of people think it’s all about just bringing down the hammer and the consequences but it’s really about helping,” Dykes said. “It’s helping kids that sometimes need the most help so I really enjoyed that.”
When asked about the duties that the culture and climate position entails, Dykes reflected upon his responsibility for moderating the air condition when the heat was particularly high.
“My primary responsibilities are I oversee the deans, I am in charge of building operations, building grounds and maintenance,” Dykes said. “When the heat index was 116, I was working with our facilities people to make sure that our building was going to be able to handle having 3,000 people in here with all that heat.”
After joining the York faculty, Dykes has expressed pure admiration for his new coworkers as well as excitement from meeting the teachers and students. Additionally, Dykes is enthusiastic about working in this collaborative environment.
“I think when you get into any kind of a leadership position, a big part of whether or not you enjoy going to work is the people you work with, like your team,” Dykes said. “I’ve always been a big team guy, I was an athlete myself, I was a coach, I believe very strongly that when people work together as a team, they can accomplish a lot.”
Dykes has an uplifting vision for all of the students at York to have a sense of belonging. As a community, he hopes that everyone can find a way to support each other.
“My overall goal is to make this a place where every single person who walks in here feels like this is a place where they belong,” Dykes said. “As I mentioned to the freshmen on day one, it’s kind of a small city, there’s a lot of people here, and you’re not going to be friends with everybody but we have to find a way to all pull in the same direction and be there for one another.”
Dykes admires many aspects about York including the proud tradition and pride for the school which makes him excited to join the community and contribute to the success.
“There are a lot of people who come here everyday and feel like this is home and so I think we can build off of that and can make it so that everybody feels like this is a place where they feel connected,” Dykes said.
