No one at Friends smiles more. No one interacts with more students and parents each day. And no one comes close to her mastery of Legos. 

Every morning, almost all members of the Friends School Upper School community are greeted by the cheerful and familiar voice of Alicyn Wilmoth.

Ms. Wilmoth, the high school’s Front Office Coordinator, is the first person many Friends students see at the beginning of each day. But her role is so much bigger than a hundred “Good morning!”s. 

Assistant Principal Travis Henschen compares the front office to a “nerve center,” or the “front lines” of the Upper School. Day to day, Wilmoth deals with many of the logistics of the school – and lots of personalities. 

“She connects well with students,” Mr. Henschen says. “I think she has become part of their morning routine and, just, their Upper School experience. She’s like a rock, yeah?” 

Wilmoth’s positive attitude boosts the morale of students and teachers. But her role beyond greeting students is unknown to many. 

A day in the life

Every morning, Wilmoth arrives at school at around 6:40 am, and sits in her car in the parking lot drinking coffee. After 20 minutes, she starts her day. She is often the first person to arrive at the Upper School. As soon as she enters the building, she turns on the hallway lights and goes to the faculty room to start the first batch of coffee.

“I like to do that because I know it’s important,” Wilmoth explains. “We all need it.” 

Still, there is more work to be done before students and faculty begin trickling in for the day. Wilmoth restocks things in the faculty room, like paper plates. She then turns on the copier and light in the copy room. She puts out the free L-block sign-in sheet for students. 

After this, her work online begins. She goes to her laptop and checks attendance emails. She corresponds with parents, finds out what teachers will be absent, coordinates substitute teachers, and prints class rosters for the subs. 

Around this time, students begin to arrive. If parents come in for meetings, Wilmoth walks them through the new Raptor system to print out visitor badges, and escorts them to their locations. This is typically the busiest part of her morning. 

Wilmoth also facilitates much of the communication in the Upper School. She must direct all the information she receives from calls and emails to the right person. 

At 8 am, late sign-in officially begins. Anxious students rush to get their late slips. Annoyed parents call to say their kids will be late. To many, this scene would be stressful. Wilmoth says it’s her favorite part of the school day. 

“I interact with so many students at that point in the day. I like to catch up with them,” she says. “Not that I want them to be late, but it is nice to see some of the same faces.” 

Senior Hannah Pangaribuan is one of them. 

“I mostly go to the main office when I’m late,” Hannah says. 

But it’s not all business between her and Wilmoth.

“I also see her sometimes when I pass by her office, or if I want to say ‘Hi’ to her too, just because.”

Hannah takes a day when she’s running late as an opportunity to talk to Wilmoth. These days have usually started as bad ones for Hannah. But she says Wilmoth’s good energy helps lift her mood.

“I go to the office for a late slip, and she has just such good energy to lift me up to get my day going,” she says.

In addition to talking with tardy students, Wilmoth continues sending emails and answering the phone throughout the morning. But as it gets later, the flow slows.

Learning to listen

As front office coordinator, Wilmoth often hears from unhappy caretakers. She gets calls from parents and guardians upset about their child being late, or any other problem. Wilmoth compares this experience to driving.

“When I’m on the road and someone’s driving like a crazy person, I want to get angry…. But then, in the back of my head, I say to myself: ‘Maybe something’s really wrong,’ ” she says. “Who knows what’s going on?”

Wilmoth also commented on the importance of being professional, and how kindness can alleviate stress.

“If you’re kind and you listen, that’s a big thing: listen to what the problem is,” She says. “Nine times out of 10, by the time you get done that conversation, we’re laughing talking about things that we have in common. [Y]ou just have to shut [negative energy] down with kindness.”

Wilmoth says this almost always works. The hardest part of her job, she says, is inevitably letting others down sometimes. This could be when she does not accomplish everything, or forgot something. She says she feels it is her job to try to keep everybody happy.

“Because honestly, this place, the faculty, the staff, the students, we’re all one big family, and you just want to make sure everyone is feeling good and getting what they need and feeling seen,” she says.

She treats her colleagues like family. But surely her caringness has to have come from somewhere.

Family values

Wilmoth was born and raised in Baltimore. Beginning her life in Overlea, she later moved to Perry Hall and attended Perry Hall High School.

Her mother was a nurse. Wilmoth calls her mom her idol.

“My mother lived to be a mom. She knew she wanted to be a mom when she was little,” says Wilmoth. “So she’s really great at that job. She still is.”

Her mother put her children first. She was so caring that Wilmoth’s friends also felt a connection to her.

“All of my friends growing up would call her their second mom, and they would sometimes call the house and want to talk to her and not me,” she recalls.

Wilmoth’s dad brought joy and humor to the family. She says he reminded her of Clark Griswold, the father in the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. She remembers him taking her family to River Towne, an older version of Chuck-E Cheese. 

“He was a lot of fun,” she says. “He was like a kid.”

Wilmoth says she’s grateful for them both.

“[I] was really lucky in the family that I grew up in, because it was not only positive and caring, but it was hilarious,” she says.

Wilmoth herself grew up knowing that she loved being around kids. As a child, she would play ‘school’ with stuffed animals lined up around her as students. In high school she worked at a daycare.

After graduating from high school, Wilmoth worked as an administrative assistant at Scientific Control Inc. She worked there for six years, until she became pregnant with her second child. She then became a stay-at-home mom.

Wilmoth says she was always upbeat. But she believes she became even more positive when she became a mother.

“As soon as I had my kids, it was like, okay, this is huge. I gotta look out for these littles,” she says. 

From that point on, she had to be there for them and be the person they could always turn to. When Wilmoth became a mother, she says, life became less about looking after herself and more about looking after her children.

Growing up, she’d been in awe of her mother putting her family first. But, when her own first child was born, she understood. Just like her mother, her happiness was wrapped up in her children’s happiness. 

“As long as we know they’re happy and healthy, that’s all that matters,” she says. 

Around 2015, Wilmoth’s husband was working as an electrician at Friends. Steve McManus, the principal at the time, knew him. When the former front office coordinator left in February, Wilmoth decided she would interview for the job. She got it, and began her work at Friends as the interim front office coordinator in March of 2015. She was officially hired over the summer. 

Making a difference

Since then, Wilmoth has had a profound impact on the Upper School Community. With her motherly air and positive presence, she stands out from the crowd.

Henschen says that not only does she engage and connect with students; she helps to make Friends what it is.

“I would argue that a strong main office with a positive presence and having someone like Ms. Wilmoth is one of the most important parts of ensuring that a school can function smoothly,” he says.

From logistics, to communications, to simply having a constant presence at the main door, Wilmoth is crucial in the Upper School’s functioning. So if you’re passing by the front office, stop and say hi to the friendliest person at Friends.

And take a peek at all of the projects decorating the office of this Lego master. There are Lego versions of famous paintings: Starry Night, the Milky Way Galaxy, and a sunflower. And has many more: a classic Converse high top, a Polaroid camera, and a scale model of Hogwarts. Her biggest project so far has been a colossal, 7541-piece Millenium Falcon.

“I was taught that what you put out, is what you would want to have given back.” says Wilmoth. “I was raised in a positive family, and that really kind of stuck with me. And I just really enjoy being around people and helping, which might sound corny, but it’s true. I don’t know, I always think about that: don’t let things get to you. You’ll get through it.

“And I know at the end of the day I’ll go home and do some Legos.”