Sheila Durkin, executive director of SDA Foundation, will be retiring after working for the foundation for 14 years. She got involved with the foundation when she was a volunteer on the foundation board while her son went to school at SDA. She had previous experience as the PTA president at Diegueno Middle School.
“I’ve had a chance to work with a wonderful group of students, teachers, administrators, and parents,” said Durkin. “I’ve really enjoyed my time here because it really gives me an opportunity to work in an environment that I love at a school that I have no problem supporting because I think it changes the lives of the people that attend. I think it has such a great culture of acceptance and it’s so welcoming.”
Many students and staff will miss having Sheila around in the foundation office. “She knows about so many of the kids here. She knows everything about all the school’s programs. She knows the teachers. She hears any rumors before anybody else does and she drills into them fast, figuring out what is truth and what is fluff,” said Bonnie Wren, a fellow foundation staff member who has been working for Durkin since 2007. “She really cares about everything about SDA and it shows.”
Durkin is known for being very talented and hard-working at SDA. “With her talents, she could’ve been making big bucks at a big company anywhere else, but she chose to devote herself to something she believes in: public education and more specifically, SDA. She’s always been one of SDA’s most significant advocates,” said Wren.
After retirement, Durkin will be moving up north to the bay area and will do some type of volunteer work with education. Once Durkin retires, Leslie Saldana will be taking the position of executive director of SDA Foundation.
“In all the years I’ve worked for Sheila, I never would’ve believed anybody could take her place. Then Leslie Saldana started volunteering, and I knew she could do the job. She has a different super power than Sheila, but it is just as effective. That’s the only way I can describe it. And she’s an alumna! Class of 1984! A Mustang through-and-through!” said Wren.
“Imagine a sea captain in an old-time movie, who is steady and composed at the helm even as the typhoon rages, inspiring everybody else to calm down and focus on what needs to be done. That’s Sheila in a nutshell,” said Wren.
Durkin said she will definitely miss working in a place with a “positive, uplifting energy” that she said comes from students and dedicated teachers.