Tucked away in the main office is a person who many students are unaware of, except for when they ask the occasional, ‘which Pickering am I emailing?’ However, this person spends most of their day helping to ensure the high school runs smoothly.
Alison Pickering is the main office secretary for GlenOak High School. Outside of work, she and her husband John have been married for almost 16 years with two kids: Ryder (freshman) and Gage (eighth grade).
“I have been here as the head secretary here for two years now,” Pickering said. “In my job, I do all the payroll for the school, manage all the sub assignments for the day and make sure teachers and students are aware of any announcements.”
Throughout Pickering’s day, she emphasizes the importance of staying helpful.
“I always have an open-door policy in the office. People will always come in to ask for help and I am always there to lend a hand,” Pickering said.
As head secretary, Pickering has to arrive at GlenOak at 6 a.m. every weekday throughout the year. But being at GlenOak year-round is not a bad thing for Pickering.
“I love working inside the school and being able to see all the cool things that are happening around my kids,” Pickering said.
Being able to work in the same building and school district as her children Ryder and Gage was a lead motivator for Pickering to switch careers.
“For 17 years, I worked for Giant Eagle as an HR manager. I also worked as a recruiting manager and eventually a regional recruiting manager,” Pickering said. “Until 2015 when I took a buyout.”
Taking a buyout from Giant Eagle allowed Pickering to prioritize family.
“For about nine months, I just spent time at home with the boys. Eventually, though I had to go back to work because financially that is what made sense,” Pickering said. “I knew that I wanted to work in the district. Ryder was in kindergarden and I wanted to spend more time with the boys.”
In order to work near her kids, Pickering started out working as the curriculum secretary for GlenOak.
“The ultimate goal was to be on the same schedule as my kids. So when the curriculum job came up, I had to take it, so I worked as the curriculum secretary for seven years before becoming the head secretary (at GlenOak),” Pickering said.
Even though Pickering works on the same schedule as her kids, Pickering and her family still live hectic lives. Despite that, they continue to emphasize the importance of spending time together.
“Our kids are very involved so we always stay busy but we make it important to eat together as a family,” Pickering said. “For example, today track ends at 5 p.m. for Ryder and then Gage needs to be back at 6:30 p.m. So in between that time we have to have dinner together.”
Eating as a family is one way the Pickering and her family continue to build a family culture that is so often pushed aside in place of a heavy work culture in today’s society.
“It seems that sort of a ‘traditional family life’ is dying but as a family we have always tried to spend as much time together even as both parents work in our family,” Pickering said. “When the boys were young we bought our first camper and that was a big way that we were able to spend time together.”
Pickering has found a way to balance both a strong work ethic and passion for her family.
With the rise of two working-parent households in the U.S—up from 31% in 1970 to 69% in 2023—it has become harder for families to spend time together. Pickering, who in her free time is also an athletic trainer at Any-Time Fitness, has managed to find the perfect work-family balance for her and her family.
“I have tons of goals and aspirations, and I love working. I wouldn’t ever not want to work,” Pickering said. “But at the same time, my work mostly ends when I go home. I make sure to have a work-life balance.”
