When walking into  the new office located in the library at Triton High School, students this year will be  greeted with a big smile from our new Career  Readiness counselor, Karyn Cassidy.

Recently Triton opened up a new role in the high school, a career readiness counselor. 

Now you might ask exactly what a career readiness counselor is. 

Career readiness is a little bit of everything,” says Cassidy. “You have students who want to go to college but have no idea what they want to do or have students who hate school and have to help them find out what will make them happy for the rest of their lives.”  Although there were several candidates for this position, it was clear Cassidy would be the best fit for Triton, according to staff members. 

“She gives off the best energy and that’s what really makes me think she will do good here,” said guidance counselor Karen Chistian. 

Cassidy’s new job as a  career readiness counselor is a role made to help all students know what their options for the future are. Cassidy helps students with internships, part time jobs, and she helps them decide what to do after high school.

 Cassidy comes from a career in schools. She said she had a busy college life. She got her undergraduate degree in sociology at Clarks University and her graduate degree in education administration at UMass-Lowell. After working at Northern Essex Community College,  she knew she wanted to be a school counselor, so she went back to school at UMass-Boston and got her school counseling degree. 

“I’ve been a guidance counselor for 13 years,” Cassidy said. She is already loving her new job at Triton High. Before applying for her job here at Triton she worked at Nashua Public Schools and before that, Lowell High school with an internship since she graduated from UMass Boston. While she was in high school she worked in an “upper bound” program as a counselor and tutor for other students. “She knows the ins and outs of this job,” said Christian, who is  Cassidy’s mentor. Cassidy  has already had so much experience in this work field. So far, Cassidy said that she feels so welcomed by all the students and staff at this school and she is excited to start working with the students in building an internship and part time job program.

During the hiring  process for the new role, there were several qualified candidates for this position. Erin Dempsey, who was on the  committee charged with hiring the new counselor, said that what stood out about Cassidy from the other applicants was that she is very enthusiastic about the students. 

“This is going to be a great resource for all students,” Dempsey said. This new position will give students great opportunities here at Triton.

When asking students what life would have been like if they had some in their district like Cassidy sooner the students had a lot to say. Triton graduate Kendall Mitchell said someone  like Cassidy “ would have not helped me decide my career path but rather help me with getting there and helping with what I had to do.” Mitchell was unlike most students and had already knew the right career for her was in early childhood education. 

 “ I think it would be very beneficial for lower economic status schools to have counselors like this,” Mitchell said. “ To have someone to root for them and help them reach their goals and unfortunately students in lower economic status schools have limited resources already, so an emphasis in this role could benefit so many more students.”

 The Triton Voice asks another graduate from Pentucket Regional high school, Chloe Brin,how she feels having a Career readiness counselor throughout high school would have been beneficial for her in helping her career path. “

 “Yes, since you have to declare a major when you apply for schools, it would be nice to have an idea of what I actually want to do,” says. Brin “Thankfully I figured it out quickly but I know a lot of people who still aren’t sure what they want to do. It’s possible that I would’ve chosen a different path but at this point I’m confident in the path that I’m going in. It would’ve been nice to have been open to other career paths later on that I didn’t even consider. I think career readiness consulars can be very helpful for students that utilize the resources that the consulars are giving them.  “

 Overall, Cassidy is hopeful for the future.

‘This is just the beginning of great things I have planned for Triton and it’s students “