Close to finishing his third school year working at BFA, Devin Quinlan is still passionate as ever to be working so closely with his co-workers and students at BFA since beginning his work here in the fall of 2015.  

Quinlan is enthusiastic about working with students and helping them grow with their studies and their own lives.

“I like being able to support kids and help walk them through choices,” Quinlan said.

A normal day for Quinlan is working closely with administration to improve the high school career of BFA Students.

“I work with the assistant principals, Mr. Lyons and Ms. Fitzgibbons specifically, a lot on behavior and discipline issues,” Quinlan said.

Building strong relationships with co-workers and students is key to his job, and he brings that aspect to his personal life, as well.

After moving to Colorado for a year, Quinlan decided that he missed Vermont.

“I went to Colorado and just really missed home and my friends,” Quinlan said.

When he was in Colorado, he often missed his life back in Vermont. He went on to say that he “missed the connectedness of Vermont.”

Quinlan lives at home with his wife of four years and three year old son, Jaxon, and one year old, Jessa. As for St. Albans, the city offers much for them to do as a family.

“There’s a lot of good things to do with little kids, which is really important to my wife and I,” Quinlan said.

He enjoys keeping himself busy when not working; spending his time outdoors and exercising.

“Hiking, camping, canoeing and kayaking. That type of stuff is probably my favorite thing to do,” Quinlan said.

Being an outdoor enthusiast, it doesn’t seem that he spends much of his time indoors, unless he’s with his wife and kids.

When it comes to BFA, Quinlan has a lot that he loves about the school. Following his passions for helping students achieve their goals, he feels the school tries to do the same.

He admires the number of clubs that BFA offers, “and the opportunity for if there isn’t something a student wants, for them to be able to create it.”

Quinlan expressed some of his favorite things about his job; when he is able to see a student he has worked with, flourish and be successful.

“I have students come back in and say like, ‘Thank you so much for working with me.’ That’s something I try to hold on to and remember during those days when it’s kind of tough.” Quinlan said.

On those tough days, he expressed that he does, at times, struggle to connect with some students that need help, but don’t necessarily want it.

“That’s hard for me, when I know somebody’s struggling,” Quinlan said. “I want to jump in and fix the problem, but that doesn’t help if I just start telling somebody what to do. It’s really important that they think about what’s going to work for them.”

Quinlan’s main priority is to help those who need it, so that everyone has an equal opportunity in getting their goals achieved, and thriving in their lives.

His favorite part of his job is seeing his students make themselves better students and better people.

“Just seeing them, whether it’s the next year or just a couple weeks later, make the improvements and checking in and hearing them say, ‘yeah this is going well, this is pretty awesome’.” Quinlan said.