After a month without a counselor, a new face has joined the student services team at Jefferson, bringing relief to a role that students sorely missed. Samuel Ramatowski, Jefferson’s new counselor, arrived in the beginning of Nov.
The arrival of Ramatowski filled a gap that left students feeling uncertain about academic and personal support. Now, with Ramatowski’s background experience in counseling, the students have gained a life mentor who can understand the complexities of student life.
“I was a counselor previously for nine years, and then I worked in the office of multilingual learners for the past three years as a specialist,” Ramatoski said. “So far, the student services team has been super helpful. The teachers and the whole community have been very welcoming.”
After not having a counselor for most of first quarter, students now have somebody to go to for guidance in their academic life.
“I feel that it’s great to have a counselor since our spot has been vacant and I am just glad we actually found one,” freshman Jonathan Baxter said. “I think the feeling of having a counselor is like security, especially for parents, because it’s our first year. A counselor, especially in our first year, is going to help us grow and achieve our goals of going to college and all that stuff.”
For Ramatowski, his role is mostly centered on building good relationships with his students.
“My role as a school counselor here is to support students between ninth and 12th grade in their academic, personal, social and post-secondary planning,” Ramatowski said. “Right now, my schedule is definitely a little bit all over the place, but in general, [I think for me as a counselor], I do prioritize developing relationships with my students [and] making sure I am always there for my students.”
Ramatowski was met with a lot of enthusiasm from students.
“I feel relieved about finally having a counselor because as a new student coming into this school, I often needed to ask questions to my teachers and counselors,” freshman Linda Li said. “Without one, I wasn’t able to ask those questions. My first impression about [our] new counselor is that he seems like a very open minded person and a kind person, which I think is good for us.”
Ramatowski has already met with his freshman students. However, there is still more left for him to do.
“My goal is to meet with everybody, and to get to know them on a personal level,” Ramatowski said. “I am trying to slowly work through my caseload of students. As a ninth grader, I was able to push into the [Integrated biology, English and Technology] (IBET) courses. I met all my ninth graders. I plan to push into some advisory courses for my 10th graders, and I’m going to send out some sign ups for students to meet with me.”
Beyond academic advising, having a counselor is helpful for students, as they can have an adult to talk to in the school.
“I thought he was really fun to be with, and personally, I think he was a bit better than our previous one,” Baxter said. “He just felt like a person that I could communicate more with and I feel more to show him more of myself with him.“