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ROTTERDAM
Schalmont mourns loss of teacher’s aide
BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter

    Sandie Stryjek had a knack for reaching her students at Schalmont High School.
    She had a special ability to listen to them and offer support in their time of need. She also had a stern side for the ones that tested her boundaries — something that helped her reach even the most difficult students.
    “As a bratty teenager going to Schalmont with minimal respect for adults, I always respected Mrs. Stryjek,” commented former student Tara Lee on a makeshift memorial posted on Facebook.com. “She was such a strong, beautiful person and the kind of woman I’d love to be like one day.”
    Stryjek, a teacher’s aide at Schalmont since 1995, died Thursday after a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 60.
    Her popularity with students and co-workers was enough that the district declared a half-day of classes at the high school to allow people to attend her funeral service Monday. Hundreds of them filled the Immaculate Conception Church on Bradt Street to pay their fi nal respects to the woman that many regarded as the epitome of strength and caring, even while facing her own deadly diagnosis.
    “She showed us how to take on cancer with dignity and strength,” said the Rev. Bob DeMartinis during the service. High School Principal Terrance Nash recalled how she participated in about every part of Schalmont life that she could, from ................>>>>..................>>>>..................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00103&AppName=1