Most of the school departments have very clear cut boundaries- the math department is located on this side of the building, all the science teachers work in this hallway, etc. It’s easy to see how these teachers contribute to the school environment. But we don’t often recognize the faculty who work from the shadows- our counselors, secretaries, nurses, testing coordinators- those work to create a better school environment and a brighter future for the students.

“Testing is not such a fun and exciting opportunity but you are helping students meet requirements to graduate and get through high school,” new testing coordinator Karen Wager said. “So that is something that I’m doing to help the school, to work alongside an awesome team on campus, and to help all you students.”

This year the school has 50 new faculty and staff, with several in administrative positions. This includes a new testing coordinator, A-C counselor, Assistant Principal admin assistant, assistant nurse and A-C Assistant Principal.

“I’ve been a counselor and I really wanted to work at Vandegrift and after being home for two years I had a mission to get a job at Vandegrift,” Wager said. “I get to work alongside the counseling team and as a 504 coordinator I get to work with a lot of students closely and help them and I like that aspect of it.”

As a testing coordinator and 504 consultant, Wager helps kids who have learning disabilities that may cause them to struggle with everyday tasks by working with teachers and setting up accommodations for students.

“I’m just very passionate about learning and education and I love it,” Wager said.”I love being on this campus. It’s absolutely fabulous. The students are amazing so I have had the best experience being the new person here. It’s wonderful to be here and I can’t stop talking about how amazing the students and faculty are here.”

The new assistant nurse, Stacy Neves, has worked as a substitute nurse for 12 years at every school in the district except for Glenn High School. She was hired in 2015 as a permanent assistant nurse for the school.

“I’m looking forward to working at Vandegrift full time, since I do have to split my schedule with Vista Ridge,” Neves said. “Hopefully next year I will be able to be here full time since our school is growing so fast.”

Neves usual responsibilities include simple first aid, medication administration, entering immunizations, vision & hearing and spinal screening.

“My position is to help the nurse so we can give every student our time and take care of them the best that we can,” Neves said. “I chose this position so I could learn more about our nurses day to day responsibilities and I have always enjoyed working at the high school level.”

The new A-C counselor is Kristen Williamson, who has worked as a counselor for 13 years, mostly for inner city high schools and was a college counselor at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA).

“I am looking forward to college counseling being a bigger focus, like it was during my time at LASA,” Williamson said. “I enjoy learning about different colleges and advising students on what path to choose next.”

However, Williamson didn’t initially intend on becoming a counselor. She said that she when she initially went into education she planned on teaching math, but later changed her mind.

“I taught high school math for four years, but after seeing the role of the high school counselor, I decided that was a better fit for me,” Williamson said. “I feel that I am more effective working with students one-on-one than teaching a classroom of students.”

Finally, Michael Heath is working as one of the new APs for this year, but he himself isn’t new to Vandegrift. Heath worked as one of the football coaches and taught professional communications for the past several years and took over as an AP  halfway through the school year last year.

“I started out as a football coach and teacher and I didn’t really want to be a head coach so there came a point where I thought if I wanted to get a Master’s degree, which I wanted to do, what would I get my Master’s in and how would I use that,” Heath said. “Educational administration was what I was really interested in and one of those routes you can use it for is you can become an AP and you can become an athletic director, but because I wasn’t wanting to be head coach it would be hard to become athletic director, so that was the path I chose.”

Heath spent part of last year working in an internship under the APs and shadowing them in order to finish his degree in education administration and gain experience for the job.

“I would do the work they gave me to teach me how to do things and when I got the job in March I hung out with them and watched what they did and anytime I had to deal with stuff one of them would be with me,” Heath said. “Mr. Sloane’s gone but Ms. Pryor and Ms. Stewart would be with me and walk me through it. And over the summer I went to training, but this my first full year.”

Heath said that the major difference between working as a teacher and coach versus being an AP is change.

“I’m still in education, but it’s a completely different role in that I still get to work with kids, but where when I was teaching I was dealing with a set group of kids I had for the year and when I was coaching I was dealing with set athletes for the year, now I’m dealing with the total whole school population,” Heath said. “It gives me the chance to work with teachers, helping them to reach goals and the potential they’re seeking. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and felt like it got to the point in my career that I had enough experience and once I got the degree I felt I was ready to make that step.”

The new staff has expressed their excitement about working at the school, and Heath, who has worked here since the first day it opened, said this is by far the best school he’s ever been at.

“The school does such a good job of promoting everybody because you don’t win lonestar cups because you did good in football or did good in band,” Heath said. “You win Lonestar Cups because everyone had a piece to play in that and everyone contributes and that’s what makes it such a great school.”