Schalmont mourns loss of teacher’s aide
Sandie Stryjek
ROTTERDAM — Sandie Stryjek had a knack for reaching her students at Schalmont High School.
She had a special ability to listen to them and offer support in their time of need. She also had a stern side for the ones that tested her boundaries — something that helped her reach even the most difficult students.
“As a bratty teenager going to Schalmont with minimal respect for adults, I always respected Mrs. Stryjek,” commented former student Tara Lee on a makeshift memorial posted on Facebook.com. “She was such a strong, beautiful person and the kind of woman I’d love to be like one day.”
Stryjek, a teacher’s aide at Schalmont since 1995, died Thursday after a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 60.
Her popularity with students and co-workers was enough that the district declared a half-day of classes at the high school to allow people to attend her funeral service Monday. Hundreds of them filled the Immaculate Conception Church on Bradt Street to pay their final respects to the woman that many regarded as the epitome of strength and caring, even while facing her own deadly diagnosis.
“She showed us how to take on cancer with dignity and strength,” said the Rev. Bob DeMartinis during the service. High School Principal Terrance Nash recalled how she participated in about every part of Schalmont life that she could, from chaperoning proms to selling raffle tickets at sporting events.
“We’ll never be able to replace her,” he said. “She left her mark at this school.”
Next-door neighbor and co-worker Donna Notar said Stryjek was often the one teenagers would approach with their problems and concerns.
“She gave all the kids her time and her ear,” she recalled “Sometimes, that’s what they really needed.”
Stryjek was also resolved to fight her illness to the end and never once asked for sympathy from her friends or family. Notar said her initial diagnosis with stage-four cancer indicated she had less than three years to live, but Stryjek ended up surviving for twice as long.
“She just lived every day and never wanted anyone to feel sorry for her,” she said. “She was a trouper.”
Stryjek was the mother of four sons.
Former neighbor and student Alicia Case, 23, said Stryjek helped her overcome her own mother’s death when she was just a child.
Even during college, Case said she made a point to visit Stryjek whenever she was back in Rotterdam. And no matter the circumstances or how ill she felt, Stryjek always made time for her.
“She was the mom in the area that everyone could talk to,” she said. “Even when she was sick, she always put other people first.”
Even as her cancer progressed, Stryjek insisted on working at Schalmont. Nash said she continued with the district until early November, in part because of her close relationship with all the students.
“The glass was always half full for her,” she said.
More than 800 people had signed onto the Web page created in her memory.
“When I walked into the high school freshman year, I know I could turn to you and talk to you when I couldn’t talk to anyone else,” wrote Danielle Freeman. “You always put everyone first before yourself. You had a heart of gold and everyone knew it.”