Brittany Beebe
What do you do as the ninth grade transition coordinator?
“I’m a support for all ninth grade students, specifically if students are struggling in classes academically. I’m there to help them help themselves and figure out what works best for them.”
What was your previous position at South, and how does it differ from your current role?
“My previous position was as an educational assistant. It was more of a behavioral assistant, a campus monitor. It’s very, very different. In that role, I would walk 40,000 steps a day sometimes, and try to connect with students and figure out what they need. My new role is different because I’m not walking around the halls as much, but there’s more one-on-one meetings with them and their families, and focusing more on the academic portion, and not as much behavior.”
How do you like your new position so far?
“I’ve been enjoying it. It’s really cool to be a part of the Counseling team, and in the Counseling Center. It has been an adjustment, and I’m also teaching an Axe class. I have experience doing some teaching, but not in this capacity.”
What, if anything, do you miss most about your old position?
“I actually do miss getting my steps in. That was a nice part that was kind of embedded in that role. I also miss a lot of my students that I would see all the time. I honestly don’t see them really at all anymore, so I still try to go on a break go see if I can find a student and help them get to class.”
What are you looking forward to this year?
“I am looking forward to getting to know more of the staff, and more of the ninth grade class—and getting to meet student’s families.”
Sheela Hadjivassiliou
What do you do as a world language French teacher?
“I teach three classes this year. I teach 9/10 immersion, which is about the Francophone world. I teach French III, which is the third year of the classic sequence. And then I teach IB French, which is preparing for the IB exam. It’s also a literature course, so reading literature in French.”
What was your previous position at South, and how does it differ from your current role?
“So the last two years I was in IHS, and I was teaching social studies in French—so teaching the same group of students for the most part, but the content was different. So instead of teaching language and literature, I was teaching social studies in French.”
How do you like your new position so far?
“I love it. I really love it. I really enjoy just sort of having something different and a different subject to teach and stuff that is a little more related to what I’ve done in the past; and there’s a little more possibility, because when you teach French, you can pretty much do anything in French. Like, anything in the language will work as something you can teach, versus if I’m following the IHS curriculum in social studies, it’s more limited to try to find things in a translation that go with that.”
What are you looking forward to this year?
I really enjoyed teaching about the Haitian revolution and history of the Americas [when I taught social studies]. That was my favorite unit to teach, so I’m sad that I won’t get to do that as much. But I’m hoping to bring some of that into literature.”
What are you looking forward to this year?
“I’m really looking forward to the second book for IB French: It’s a novel that I really, really love, and I can’t wait to teach it! I’m hoping my students enjoy it, too, because … you never know.”
Jessica Kuehn
What do you do as the counseling secretary?
Primarily, I’m responsible for coordinating appointments and tending to the needs of any student who walks through the door. Some students’ needs are academic; for example scheduling, or helping juniors and seniors plan for their futures. There are also a lot of social/emotional needs for students who may be struggling inside or outside of school; there are things they need additional support for.
What was your previous position at South, and how does it differ from your current role?
My previous position was at the front desk in the Main Office, and I have described that transition as moving from the head to the heart. Over in the Main Office, it was primarily working a lot with parents or community members who would come in, making sure they got connected with the resources they needed; whereas in the Counseling Center, it’s primarily the students.
How do you like your new position so far?
I love it. It’s wonderful! The counseling staff are phenomenal to work with, and the students are, as well.
What, if anything, do you miss most about your old position?
I do miss seeing some of the coworkers that I spent my days with over there, and also having the student workers. I really enjoyed working with them every day.
What are you looking forward to this year?
All of it—stepping into this role and getting to know more about what happens in this space and what I can do to help.
Lean Hollenbeak
What do you do as School to Career Coordinator?
I help with a lot of things that fall under the college umbrella, the career umbrella, and some overlap. Right now, it’s college application season for a lot of our seniors, so I’m helping support students through that process. We have a thing called the Purple Packet, so I help students learn about that and utilize that so we can support them with their deadlines. At the same time, I’m also helping with some career development and helping students find work both in the community, as well as here at school. Then some students have jobs in the community on their own, and I help them learn how they can get credit for that work.
What was your previous position at South, and how does it differ from your current role?
My previous position was Counseling Secretary, so basically that position manages the Counseling Center—a frontline employee who handles everyone coming in and helps direct them to the appropriate place. There’s a little bit of crossover, as I still work with the counselors quite a lot with college apps and career things and credits, as well. So I’m still working with the same team, just in a different capacity. The thing that is both a pro and a con is I don’t get as many interruptions because I’m not at the front desk and that helps me focus on big projects. But also, it’s a little bit of an adjustment for me because I love the students and I love talking to them, so I’m adjusting to that.
How do you like your new position so far?
I really like it a lot. The college app stuff was brought over from my previous position. It’s nice to know what I’m doing in a project I’ve already worked on, but also there are a lot of new projects; I’m working on a job board, helping students use templates to build resumes, and so a lot of that is stuff I’ve used in my own professional, and personal life. Helping students learn how to use those resources so they can start their career journey is really exciting.
What, if anything, do you miss most about your old position?
Circling back, it’s the student interaction. In the Counseling Center I worked with a lot of students from all grades. In my current position it’s a little more focused on 11th and 12th graders, and so I’m working directly with fewer students. It’s an adjustment, but it’s good.
What are you looking forward to this year?
So this year – and any time you try something for the first time, you have to give yourself some space and grace to learn the job and tweak things, and create things, and adopt things your predecessor had – so finding the balance is somewhat challenging, but I like it and I’m up for it.
The Axe 