Meet Julie Badynee
“Everyone has a learning style, and that’s what we’re trying to uncover,” says Julie Badynee, director of Milton’s Academic Skills Center. “We want to pinpoint students’ learning styles and then find strategies to help them enhance what they do, setting them up for success.”
Julie came to Milton in 2005 with a background in special education; a master’s degree in learning disabilities; and professional experience in the corporate world and in education—both at independent and public schools. “I worked in corporate training for years—I love teaching, coaching, guiding people into learning—but nothing beats working with students,” she says. “Working with students is so much fun.”
As director of the Academic Skills Center, Julie’s role is running a learning skills center for “motivated, high-achieving, accomplished students who just need extra help at times.” The majority of students Julie works with are seeking help with their organization and time management skills; many are in Class IV and Class III. “Students either learn the skills and are fine, or we start to uncover some learning issues that we can help address. Often Class IV students will come in from the top of their middle school classes and will sail through until they meet up with a curriculum that challenges them in areas they didn’t know would be a struggle. The positive side of that is the students are challenging themselves; if parents and students can look at [unique learning styles] in a positive light, they’ll realize that it’s best for students to learn the strategies that work for them when they’re 14 or 15 years old, rather than waiting until they’re in college.”
Julie attributes much of the success of the Skills Center to the fact that the administration and faculty are so open and committed to the work that goes on there. “When I first came to Milton, it was clear that the School was ready to move into the area of learning differences and taking on a ‘how do we help all students’ perspective. Working with faculty who are so open to learning about students who are struggling, and trying to discover what will help bring them up to their potential, makes all the difference. The faculty also love what they do; they love their subjects, and the benefit of having small class sizes is that it allows them to get to know their students and spend the time that [the students] need to in order to teach them.”
After much discussion and planning with members of the faculty and administration, Julie will implement several new strategies in the Skills Center this year: a new part-time learning specialist will help staff the Center; faculty members working there will go beyond helping in their specific curricula and will be trained in providing help with organization and time-management skills; all-faculty discussions throughout the year will be based on various attention issues and learning styles such as those presented in the book Distracted by alumna Maggie Jackson ’78, who will present to faculty members prior to the opening of School; and a formal peer tutoring program and formal study halls for Class IV students will be implemented. Julie has also worked with Class IV deans and the development office to employ a formal training program in organization and time-management for Class IV students; they will have personalized assignment planners and will receive instruction on how to best use their study skills, whether that’s using the planner, managing their time, or studying for a test.
“The students that need the extra help might not be the majority, but they’re a very important group to support,” Julie says. “There’s no stigma associated with going to the Skills Center, and I believe that attitude comes from the top down, from the administration and faculty recognizing and embracing students’ different learning styles and enabling the help that they need.”
In the time since Julie began at Milton, she has married, bought a new home, moved, and become mother to now 16-month-old Kaz. While not busy with Milton, marriage and motherhood obligations, Julie is a runner and dabbles in both skiing and tennis. She enjoys traveling, some favorite locations being Kenya, China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Eastern Europe. She also is active in a book club, the “topic du jour” being parenting. Outside of that genre, Julie enjoys modern literature—a favorite being A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving—and historical fiction, especially that of William Rutherford.
About to begin her fourth academic year at Milton, Julie tries to figure out specifically what makes her know she could be here forever: “The Milton environment is very motivating, and it’s the right amount of challenge to make you feel important every day.” Julie compares the challenge, energy and motivation here to a tennis match: “I always find that I play better when I’m playing with a good player, and that’s sort of like working here. I think that’s what students find out about themselves, too—they get better because they’re ‘playing with great players.’”
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