Gallery • 2 Photos

Photo by Elli Swanson

Rachel Anselmo works in the back of the front office. She helps coordinate Principal Mr. Bach's schedule. Mrs. Anselmo also helps supervise lunch periods.

When students think of the school and who runs it one would most likely think of the school’s Principal Rob Bach. Little do students know there is a woman behind the curtain helping Bach achieve his goals of keeping the school running smoothly. Rachel Anselmo is Bach’s assistant and has been helping him since he started working here. Anselmo has been working at SAHS for the past 4 years (5 years this March), and students and staff are loving her, and her way of doing things.

“So pretty much every day I try to make a couple of minutes to go in. She gets me up to speed on the quick hitting things that that I need. So if it’s paperwork that I need to sign or documents to sign, she has those for me. She also gives me reminders about the things that are coming up that have trickled off my radar screen because I get distracted by all of the other things going on.” Bach said. “She keeps track of a lot of the big picture things. As deadlines that we have coming up, she reminds me of those. And she just keeps us organized with all kinds of other things so that I don’t have to touch them. A lot of that stuff, she wants to put it together for us.”

With all of the work Anselmo puts into her job, many people would get burned out of the work and drama quickly. But she stays motivated by “making people happy and doing an overall good job.” She likes a challenge and keeping things interesting.

“I would say my favorite part is that no two days are the same. There’s a lot of differentiation between every day, I’m doing 10 different things. I have to teach myself how to do a lot of different things. I like a challenge. I like working with a lot of different systems, computer systems and programs and things and I do a lot of that here.”

“I like that our principal will challenge me with certain things. He’ll have a vision of how he wants to do something or get something done, and he’ll just give me all the pieces to the puzzle. And then I have to kind of put them together. I like to think critically think like that and be able to, to get it done,” Anselmo added.

Anselmo graduated from Augsburg college with a degree in communications with an emphasis on public relations and advertising. She loves her current position, and all of the added benefits of working at a school.

“I really like where I’m at in my job right now. There’s a lot of opportunity to do different things. It awards the ability to be around for my kids more since I get off at 3:30. So I’m able to quick run some errands, then go pick up my my kids. I don’t have to work nights and weekends. There’s a lot of really huge benefits when you when you have a family and to have a position like this. So I don’t foresee myself going anywhere anytime soon,” Anselmo said.

While providing excellent service for the school Anselmo has made a great impression on the staff.

Bach said, “I remember is when I first started and she and I were talking about how does our work relationship work or the work dynamic between us. I’ll never forget one of the things that she told me. She told me said, ‘Rob my job is to help you look good, and you look good’. And I just remember thinking, wow, how neat is that, that you’ve got someone who’s dedicated to serving someone else to get somebody else to feel good about their profession. That’s pretty cool.”

“She has a good sense of humor, she’s very diligent in her job. She has a lot on her plate and she’s able to juggle everything very well. She’s always ready for a laugh and ready to take a break and chat with someone who stops by,” front desk receptionist Alison Schroeder said.

As Bach’s assistant, Anselmo works directly for him so she works very closely with him everyday. Both get along with the other very well and have a good working relationship.

Anselmo said, “It’s kind of like a player coach relationship, he is he knows how to motivate me. He knows exactly what information I need in order to get things done for him. I think he appreciates how quickly I’ll prioritize things in order to get something done if he needs a done right away. He’s super kind and generous and his heart is definitely in the right place, it makes it really easy to work for him because he’s just very kind and easy going. Easy to work with.”

Anselmo is the woman behind the scenes running the show. Anselmo loves her job, co-workers, and her school.