Jennifer Schultz: An Unstoppable Force

Tucked away in an unassuming corner at , Jennifer Schultz's office is littered with clutter—mostly small towers of documents covering a large amount of the available surface area in the room.

But it doesn't seem "messy." There’s a nuanced organization about the office—something you can feel without necessarily seeing. Order among the chaos.

It serves as a metaphor of Shultz's life.

After just one year in the field, the Palos Hills native became the regional director of the Illinois School Psychological Association (ISPA)—the third largest state school psychological organization in the United States.

That was six years ago.

In the meantime, she's been building on her ever-increasing workload, getting hired as a school psychologist at H-F High School, organizing a group of south suburban high school psychologists, getting involved with Project Snowball, running the high school's peer tutoring program and so on and so on. She even spent time lobbying in Washington, D.C., for mental health in education on behalf of the National Association of School Psychologists. In her free time, she's pursuing a black belt in Hapkido.

And that's not even all of it.

“I’ve always been driven," Schultz explained. "When I do something, I like to do it to fruition. People say I’m intense.”

That's one way of putting it.

Schultz's work ethic has all of the strength and resolve of an NFL starting line. Those who work with her know it all too well.

“She works tirelessly to meet the needs of not only our special education students, but the general education students as well,” Stacey Rubin, director of special education at H-F High School and Schultz's supervisor said.

And despite the mess of commitments Schultz has gotten herself into over the years, she never seems to compromise the quality of her work, nor her integrity. Just last month she was awarded the ISPA's Presidential Award at the ISPA's annual state conference in Itasca.

“She is a superior psychologist," Rubin said. "She has wonderful interpersonal and diagnostic skills.”

Dr. Ryan Pitcock, H-F High School principal, echoes Rubin's praise.

"While young in her career, Jennifer has quickly established herself as someone willing to do what is necessary at an extremely high level to help the students," Pitcock said. "She is a tireless worker possessing a high talent level."

Schultz shakes off the amazement cast by others with grace and humility.

"This is my dream job," she said with a smile.

But what makes Shultz all the more impressive is the positive effect she seems to exude upon those she interacts with.

“She’s loved because she’s trusted,” Rubin says.

Shultz explained her process for dealing with students on the receiving end of unpleasant news.

"Sometimes I’m the bearer of bad news, but I try to counsel them through that," Schultz said. "I kind of make up my own way of telling them … I try to tell them like I would want to be told.”

According to Rubin, Schultz continues to make a tremendous impact on the school in a time when educational psychological services are strained.

“She’s done a lot. She gets involved," Rubin said. "(Schultz) is a pleasure to work with and a wonderful asset to our professional family.”

And so Schultz presses on, despite her thoroughly packed and cluttered life, with near-perfect, almost superhuman functionality.

Rather than complain about her busy schedule or wallow in the self-pity of being consumed by work, Shultz offers a simple reflection.

"I'm never bored," she said.