Polk Dean Focused on Accessibility: “We Have to Help Students See Themselves 在这里”

Sylvester 小 begins work as Polk State 莱克兰's dean of student services on July 1. 这是他在温特黑文的办公室里的照片, which is covered in pennants from schools from which Polk State alumni have graduated. 小, who is known at the College for his passion for student success, tells Polk State students that if they want to add a pennant to his wall, they have to complete their degree at that institution. It's just one of the ways he helps students visualize -- and ultimately achieve -- their goals.

For Polk State’s Sylvester 小, education — literally overnight — saved him from poverty.

在那之后的几十年里, he’s helped countless students believe in their own potential, 实现他们的目标, 改变他们的生活.

He’ll continue that work — and take it to new levels — as Polk State 莱克兰’s dean of student services.

他将于7月1日上任.

“Everything I do is about pulling education off the top shelf, 把它交给学生, and helping them understand that it really is achievable,利特尔说, 57, 莱克兰本地人.

“I had a few key educators in my life who did that for me, and it made all the difference.”

在他的新角色中, 小 will oversee all student services functions on the 莱克兰 campus, 从经济援助到招生. He will report to Polk State 莱克兰 Provost Steve Hull.

“We are extremely pleased to have Sylvester 小 as our new dean of student services on the 莱克兰 campus,赫尔说。. “His 25-plus years of experience in student services will allow him to hit the ground running. Sylvester’s passion for student success will also serve him very well in his new position.”

小’s passion for helping students succeed is certainly inspired by his own odds-defying, education-driven上升.

他从小就穷得无人能想象. His home was a public housing unit in the former Washington Park on North Florida Avenue in 莱克兰. His mother, Gurdie Mae cleaned other people’s much nicer houses to support her eight children.

但是家庭, 虽然它很穷, 虽然有时看起来很绝望, 从不缺乏纪律.

每天下午, 当他妈妈在工作的时候, 邻居们看着公寓, 确保八个孩子都安全地待在里面. 每天下午, just as their mom directed, the children gathered together to do their homework. Some were practicing the alphabet while others were writing essays. Some were just starting to add while others were mastering long division. 不管, 他们一起学习, 他们一起读到经文的下一章, 下一个技能水平.

每周三天, 做完作业后, the boys had to rake the yard — even if there were no leaves.

“有时, 我们会尽量不去挖, but she’d come out and look for the lines in the patches of sand where the grass didn’t grow,利特尔说. “如果我们没有尽职，她总会知道的. We had the nicest yard, but really it was about occupying our time so we stayed out of trouble.”

Other days, the children had to run errands or do jobs for their neighbors.

“It was how we repaid the neighbors for watching over our apartment every afternoon,利特尔说. “But it also taught us about volunteerism and community.”

His mother’s emphasis on education, discipline and hard work paid off child-by-child. 利特尔的兄弟姐妹都去上大学了, 都是运动员奖学金, 成为一名公司会计, 老师, 甚至是副校监.

相比之下，小落后了. 他是个普通的学生. A handful of 老师 — Latha Speed in the first grade, Pearl Joel in the fourth — saw his potential. Others thought his tendency to speak his mind was disruptive and were quick to send him to the principal’s office.

“我很早就被贴上了具有挑战性的标签, 或者班级小丑, 或者聪明的亚历克, 或者有时是个问题儿童,利特尔说, who also names former 莱克兰 Junior High School Principal and Polk State trustee Neriah Roberts and former Polk State Director of Counseling 尤利西斯约翰逊 作为关键的影响因素.  

在莱克兰高中读书时, 小 completed a vocational program in graphic arts and printing. 毕业后, 他有一份好工作, his mother kept reminding him that if he really wanted out of the housing projects for good, 他必须接受教育.

“I was one of those kids who hated living in the projects. 我哭了. 我想离开那里，”他说.

在打印店工作的时候, 他被澳门新葡京博彩录取, paying a neighbor $5 each day to drive him back and forth between 莱克兰 and 冬天还.

“我真的只是来这里试一试，”他说. “一开始我并不想来这里. But at some point, I got interested in deviant behavior. 我被贴上了制造麻烦的学生的标签, 我想了解更多原因, 以及心理咨询如何帮助像我这样的学生.”

利特尔留在学校，1977年从波尔克中学毕业. 然后他获得了全额奖学金 佛罗里达南方学院, a deal that came with a paid position in FSC’s print shop and free housing.

“I was sleeping in the project one night and the next night, 我睡在佛罗里达南方大学的宿舍里,利特尔说. “我离开了，再也没有回头.”

他于1979年获得社会学学士学位. 他继续当了一名教师, 心理健康专家, and a vocational instructor in the prison system before returning to Polk 27 years ago. 在这里, 他最初是一名项目经理, working his way up to his most recent position as associate dean of student services.

In his new job, 小, who also holds a master’s from 诺瓦东南大学，将最侧重于可访问性. He is especially interested in expanding online student services.

“We have to make sure we’re delivering very student-centered, student-driven services,利特尔说.

“We have to help students see the institution and understand it. 我们必须让这个机构更加透明. That’s how we help students to see themselves here — to see a way out of their current circumstances. The first step to getting students to enroll is to help them believe that they can come to college and earn a degree.”

On the 莱克兰 campus, 小’s office will be located in LTB 1287.