NYLC Celebrates Educator Mary Nobles Service
Minneapolis educator Mary Syfax Noble, having served for nine years on NYLC’s Board of Directors, completed her term in December. The NYLC community celebrated her service at their 25th Anniversary celebration held at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., in early December, where she received a “Founders Award.”
“Mary has been among the most consistent, passionate supporters of service-learning and NYLC,” said NYLC founder and CEO Jim Kielsmeier. “We will miss her leadership on the board, but look forward to continuing our association with her as a colleague and friend.”
An early adapter of service-learning, Noble first taught in NYLC’s summer service-learning immersion program, WalkAbout, for the Minneapolis Public Schools in 1992. She later became a site coordinator at Minneapolis’ Wilder School and administrator for the entire summer program before training other metropolitan areas, such as Chicago, in the program.
A contributor not only to NYLC’s board and WalkAbout, but also to ongoing NYLC policy work, curriculum, and professional development efforts, Noble says, “NYLC is always on the cutting edge of what’s happening with young people. Working with NYLC has made it possible to use my skills and talents, and at the same time makes me spiritually fulfilled with who I am.”
Having been educated in the first integrated community in Columbus, Ohio, she completed her teacher preparation at Ohio State University in Columbus, then worked for 16 years in the Cincinnati schools before moving to Minneapolis in 1986. Employed in the Minneapolis Public Schools since, she has carried her passion for service-learning to a range of positions, including a juvenile detention center and St. Joseph’s Home for Children.
One of Noble’s favorite NYLC memories involves a second-grade student of hers presenting at the 1993 National Service-Learning Conference in Albuquerque, N.M. “We just have to remember what Martin Luther King, Jr. said about ‘Anyone can serve,’” says Noble.
Her service-learning involvement continues, and now finds international applications. About 11 years ago, (“before Oprah,” she notes) she helped a friend start a pre-K-12 school in Amponsansong, Ghana. Though her friend has since passed away, Noble continues her involvement. She is currently helping family members establish a fund in her friend’s name to continue building and running the school.
As Noble says, “This type of learning is experiential and can connect to every aspect of lifelong learning.”
Clearly these are words she lives.
