Sister Hilary Halpin, OSB papers

Sister Hilary Halpin, OSB was born Joellen Marie on January 3rd, 1940 in Chicago, Illinois. She entered the community on September 12th, 1958, making her final profession on August 16th, 1965.

Sister attended Saint Scholastica High School Chicago, and graduated from Mundelein College in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Home Economics. She served as a teacher for over 25 years in numerous schools in Illinois, including Saint Lambert, Queen of All Saints, and Saint Scholastica Academy. She also taught at summer vacation schools in Colorado, including Camp San Benito.

In 1971, Sister Hilary founded the Child Development Program and Early Learning Center at Saint Scholastica High School. In the program, a pre-school class of around 15 four-year-old children served as a "lab" for the high school course, "Child Care and Devlopment." High school students in the course could apply theories of child psychology and early education learned during lectures to a real-world pre-school class of children selected from various backgrounds.

After serving as the director of the Early Learning Center for 20 years, in 1991 Sister founded and opened the British Infant School in Skokie, Illinois. The pre-school for children aged 3-5 blended a Montessori style of teaching with the British Model by Olive Ketty. Sister's goal was to give children "religious, social, and academic experience outside of the home."

In addition to serving as a teacher and pre-school founder and director, Sister Hilary practiced as a massage therapist at the Saint Francis Hospital Center for Women's Health in Evanston, Illinois. She also taught pre-natal classes at Saint Francis, specialising as a certified instructor in infant massage.