A greeting card from cardstore.com humorously sums up why the last full Wednesday of every April has been designated to celebrate a cherished and invaluable segment of office workers.
On the front of the card, the phrases “Secretaries Day,” “Administrative Assistants Day” and “Administrative Professionals Day” are each crossed out in red ink. A fourth description listed above an old-fashioned typewriter remains unmarked. The slightly edited version: “The-only-one-around-here-who-knows-what-the-heck’s-going-on Day.”
This day designated to honor office heroines and heroes originated as National Professional Secretaries Week in 1952 and was created to recognize the value and importance of the secretarial position and encourage more people (mostly women at the time) to choose the profession, according to holidayinsights.com.
Over time, the week evolved to encompass the expanding roles occupied by these professionals. Decades later, the sentiment remains the same, and there are cards and memes aplenty that express appreciation to administrative professionals — whether their formal titles include the words secretary, assistant, admin professional, executive administrator, office manager, office aide, Miracle-Working Super Ninja or The-only-one-around-here-who-knows-what-the-heck’s-going-on in the office.
Whether you get them a treat, a small token of appreciation and/or simply tell them thank you, small gestures of gratitude can go a long way. These administrative professionals do so many behind-the-scenes things to help offices, businesses, organizations and, yes, schools and districts smoothly function (bonus points if you don’t rely on your favorite administrative professional to remind you to do this for them.)
We’d like to express our gratitude to the dozens and dozens of administrative professionals at Canyons School District headquarters and schools. Ultimately, it’s our students who benefit the most from the countless hours of support and tireless work they provide throughout the year.
A special shoutout goes to the District’s administrative professionals who are retiring this year: Gina Bench, Human Resources; Carolyn Cannon, Alta High; Chris Gray, Canyon View Elementary; Diann Landeen, Corner Canyon High; Janet Riley, Peruvian Park Elementary; and Vicki Wilkins, Butler Middle.