The Spectator ● September 11, 2015
Page 2
News
Chloe Delfau / The Spectator
Makris Appointed New Director of College Counseling
By GRACE TANG and Namra Zulfiqar Former College Counselor Jeremy Wang recently accepted a position as a guidance counselor at Townsend Harris High School to shorten his commute and spend more time with his family. To accommodate this move, Assistant Principal of Pupil Personnel Services Casey Pedrick has hired and appointed Jeffrey Makris as the new Director of College Counseling, a title Pedrick had held for three years. As director, not only will Makris will be counseling students directly, but he will also have responsibilities such as communicating with college admission representatives, maintaining and managing policy and programmatic changes, and working on Naviance, a platform that assists students with the intricate college application process. Pedrick was first introduced to Makris when she viewed his resume for an opening in the guidance department. However, because Makris’ specialty was in the college counseling field, Pedrick
did not hire him. But when a position opened after Wang’s resignation she reconsidered: “I immediately thought of Mr. Makris,” Pedrick said. “I pulled his resume from the file and reviewed it again. The passion Mr. Makris has for college counseling spills over outside the school building. I always found myself impressed with his work ethic and passion for students,” Pedrick said in an e-mail interview. Makris first entered the college counseling world when a counselor at a previous school introduced him to the role. For five years, Makris served as Vice Chair, then Chair of the Board of Directors for College Access Consortium of New York (CACNY). He is also an active member of the New York State Association of College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC), which awarded him High School Counselor of the Year in 2011. For the past year, Makris has also been a Featured Blogger on NYC College Line’s Access to Success blog. Makris formerly worked at the Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology (UAG), but pursued
New Heads of Programming Office Chosen
a job opening at Stuyvesant. “My time at the Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology was an incredible experience. [...] But, as I have progressed within the profession, I have found myself eager for new experiences, challenges, and opportunities for professional growth. Stuyvesant High School serves some of the most talented and motivated students not only in New York City, but the United States; when I noticed that there was an opening here, I realized that I had to pursue this possibility,” Makris said in an e-mail interview. Makris is confident about the future of the college office. “[I hope to] ensure the continued success of the college office here at Stuyvesant and, in the coming years, work with our team to help our college counseling program evolve in ways that allow us to continue to serve our students and families as best we can,” he said. Pedrick is now Stuyvesant’s Assistant Principal of Pupil Personnel Services, where she will continue to oversee the college counseling and guidance departments while managing her original college caseload for homerooms, JJ and JA. Pedrick believes her decision to transfer the position of director to Makris will benefit the school enormously. “I sat back in my chair and reflected, ‘What if I offered the Director position to Mr. Makris? What would that structure look like? How would I feel giving over a position that I love?’” Pedrick said. “The answer to the [last] question came easily. For every decision I make in my position as AP, Pupil Personnel Services, if I ask myself, ‘What is best for the students?’ the answer becomes clear. In this case, the answer was to offer this talented man a position at our school.”
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Cheng and Lin have been working on student schedules at Stuyvesant since mid-August. In previous years, Stuyvesant’s programming office had primarily used its own software to create all the schedules before inputting the final versions into the DOE system, called the Student Transcript Academic Record System (STARS). Most other schools use STARS for the entire programming process, but “we found it advantageous to use our own [system],” Wong said. “We have our own little crazy things here—our linked science classes, seven and a half period classes, [and] singletons [free periods] galore—so it makes it very difficult […] to schedule using the DOE system. [It is] not as flexible as what we need.” However, this year, the programming office will use STARS more frequently, partly because Lin used STARS when he was working with the CFN. Because Stuyvesant’s system is so uniquely adapted to the abnormal class schedules, it will still determine which classes a student takes. But, STARS will be used to determine which section of each class a student is put in. While Hsiao, Cheng, and Lin will exclusively deal with the programming aspect of Wong’s former responsibilities, newly reinstated Assistant Principal of Technological Services Randi Damesek will take over the technology maintenance portion. “[Hsiao, Cheng, and Lin] will work on the programming part of [Wong’s] job […] My plan is for [Damesek] to work as the other
half as [Wong]. She is good [with] computers and Excel for organizational purposes,” Zhang said. Wong used to be in charge of both programming and tech support, but this year Damesek will run the school website, maintain the Smart Boards, and resolve any technology issues that teachers may have. Assistant Principal of Security, Student Affairs, Health, and Physical Education Brian Moran will manage the school locker system. Meanwhile, Stuyvesant may also have Daedalus, its current data-management and communication software for students, replaced with a new system in around October. Daedalus’ most important features include an integrated gradebook, elective registration, and compilation of college admission statistics. Though some NYC high schools use it, the DOE is planning to phase out the system. Damesek and Zhang have been working with the two companies that are developing the new system to ensure that student college admissions data is properly transferred once the new system is released. “We really cannot afford to lose ten years of data,” Zhang said. “This is really [where] I would like [Damesek] to be helpful in training the teachers to use this system.” Because of the major changes in the programming office, it is unclear to what extent student schedules will be affected. “I have confidence in the new staff, but I’m still worried about beginning of school year, [though it’s] understandable because after twenty-something years we lost […] Wong and Liang, the two giants of programming,” Zhang said.
SU and Kweller Prep Sign $10,000 Sponsorship Agreement
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