I think this is my 20th year. It’s all been at Kellam. I feel connected to this school and this community.
When I first got the job here, I didn’t even know where Kellam was. I graduated from Cox High School and this was another planet to me, being off of Great Neck Road and coming out here. But I will never regret that move. My former counselor at Cox, Kay Scarborough, was the director here. Right before the school year started they had an opening and she called me, and Mr. Biehl trusted her. If I hadn’t gotten the job then I was going to move to Puerto Rico to take a job with Gillette, the razor company, because I had an opportunity to work for them. My life would have been drastically different, I think, if I had not gotten that call from Mr. Biehl.
The job has changed in some ways but working with the students is definitely the part that I love. It’s quite a different job than when I first started in that I think we do a lot more social and emotional counseling and not just academic, which I like but it is an exhausting day after it’s all said and done. Every day is different, but I love it.
I think the best part for me is seeing how students grow from ninth grade to seeing them years later down the line where they’re telling about their lives and how much they’ve grown. I see this lifecycle of students in front of my eyes and it’s just a unique perspective that I know a lot of people don’t get to have. I think that part is pretty cool – especially when maybe they’ve struggled initially and found their way or the light comes on and that’s sort of exciting to see. When I hear back from them too, I think that’s very rewarding and it lets me know that maybe my hard work didn’t go in vain or what I tried to help them with may have paid off in some way. I had such a difficult time deciding what I wanted to do for a career – maybe that’s why this one suits me so well. I think that helps. I have a lot of kids that were in my exact same shoes. They’re just trying to figure it out, and so was I.
#WeAreVBSchools
