Over the first couple weeks of the new school year, as students met with their counselors and discussed their high school and college careers, many were introduced to new counselor Linda Christy.

Christy will be filling the newly created position of college coordinator. The specific role she will have is yet to be determined, Christy said. However, as college coordinator, Christy will be focusing solely on college preparations.

“This job (is) really exciting for me because I get to just completely focus on college and coordinating that with the students,” Christy said. She will be working with all high school students on preparing for college, and she has already been in some of the AVID and College and Career classrooms talking about college preparations.

Christy has experience in college preparations, as she has worked at Avon High School and Cathedral High School as a college advisor as well as at DePauw University and Indiana University in admissions.

“I’m going to be working with all students on essay writing, mock interview skills and just extra things like that,” Christy said. She has been identifying available scholarships for students over the first few weeks of the school year.

Christy has already begun planning additions to the school counseling center, including a committee of parents and students that could voice the concerns and needs of the student body.

Sophomore Rachel Sendrow said she thought the new position would be beneficial because having staff members experienced in college admissions makes preparing for college less overwhelming for students. She  said she also believes Christy’s recruitment will lessen the load on other counselors.

“I think it would help take some pressure off of other councilors because they have so many students they need to help coordinate, having someone devoted solely on college (would be) helpful,” Sendrow said via email. Sendrow added that she looks forward to working with Christy in the future.

Christy encourages students to sign up for appointments and talk to her or the other two college advisers.

“(Students) can come in and sign up for an appointment at any time. I look forward to working with them,” Christy said.