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Alumni Profile
Karyn Payton
Karyn Payton, educator, attended The School in Rose Valley from 1984 to 6th grade graduation in 1988. She attended Friends' Select School through high school and received a B.A. in Psychology from Temple University and a M.A. in Education and Human Development from George Washington University. She is certified in Early Childhood Special Education and continues to do graduate work in early childhood education and reading. Karyn began her career teaching young children with developmental disabilities and delays. Recently she taught in the second grade at Friends' Select School in Philadelphia, but now she is SRV's technology and learning support teacher.
Karyn started attending SRV in the third grade after moving to this area from Connecticut when her mother became a resident student and then staff at Pendle Hill, a Quaker center for spiritual growth, study and service. Her mother was a pediatric nurse practitioner and special educator with firm beliefs in holistic health and progressive education. She chose to send Karyn to SRV because the school fit so nicely with their Quaker beliefs. Between Pendle Hill and SRV, what Karyn remembers most about her childhood is playing in the woods, running around and climbing trees.
From her time at SRV, Karyn remembers getting backrubs at quiet time. She remembers Shop and still has many of the things she built: wooden toys, a dollhouse, a lamp, and a puzzle to name a few. She even built a box that to this day houses many of her childhood keepsakes, including stories and books she wrote while attending SRV. She has fond memories of music and library time. An avid reader, Karyn thanks SRV for the ample time she was allowed to nurture her love of books.
Karyn is passionate about education and has never strayed from that as her life's work. Teaching is her calling, as the Quakers define the word. She has known from the age of eight years old that she wanted to work with children. She babysat and in high school provided childcare during Quaker meeting. Essays she wrote in high school developed her ideas about kids, teaching and learning. As an adult, Karyn has worked at all the places that helped form her. She coordinated Pendle Hill's adult religious education and resident student programs. She taught at Friends' Select in the second grade. And she substituted at SRV before joining the staff in 2007.
Karyn attributes her SRV education to giving her a strong academic foundation – particularly in mathematical concepts and writing skills. SRV prepared Karyn to be a socially responsible citizen, instilled a lifelong love of learning, and encouraged her to embrace her strengths as well as the risks necessary to tackle challenges. She says SRV prepared her to think analytically. These are all characteristics she wants to pass on to her students as an educator. She wants kids to be intrinsically motivated to learn.
Karyn is married to Lee Payton whom she met when they both attended Friends' Select. They share a commitment to education: Lee is a high school teacher at William Penn Charter School. Their two children, Savannah and Davis, both attend SRV. While she had many options for educating her own children, sending them to SRV has always been Karyn's first choice. She feels as though they, like she, will be well prepared for life: academically, social-emotionally and civically. They will be prepared to be people who make a difference in the world in their own unique, yet profound way.
