College and Career Center Welcomes New Advisors
The Jack Taylor College and Career Center (CCC) has three new College Advisors to help students on their journey to college and the workforce.
Darien Waters is from Silver Spring, Maryland. He attended the University of Virginia and majored in Psychology. Waters decided to become an advisor because he enjoys helping people, especially youths. He is interested in a career in psycho-therapeutic counseling. Advising students about college is a way for him to interact with teenagers in a setting other than the soccer field, where he is a coach.
Waters would like to continue the work of the previous advisors, like Abigail Osei who left last year, and build upon their success. To start the day, he writes the SAT/ACT question of the day, which can be found outside of his office in the CCC. He often reviews powerpoints and class presentations for T.C., Minnie Howard, Hammond and George Washington Middle Schools. He also works with people in the Scholarship Fund. If a student does not come in, he spends his time furthuring his knowledge on SAT/ACT requirements and deadlines, or finding scholarships for students. He can be found in the CCC during the school day and after school.
Melissa Harrington grew up in Pittsburgh and moved to Virginia to attend Virginia Tech. She has lived here ever since. At Virginia Tech, she got her undergraduate degrees in Political Science and Economics, then went back to get her graduate degree in College Student Personal and Higher Education Administration.
Harrington has worked in higher education since 1994, working with five different colleges and universities throughout her career.
When she first graduated college, she got a job at a technical school, where she saw firsthand how much assistance students needed to help them finish schooling. She later found an interest in advising students on higher education and different career paths.
Harrington will be at T.C. once or twice a week as a part time replacement for Margaret Feldman, another college advisor, while she is on maternity leave.
Karina Evora is also joining the CCC. Evora is originally from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a small city outside of Providence where she grew up and went to high school. She is currently working as Interim Director of College Advising, also filling in for Feldman. She has been in general advising for seven years.
She decided to go into college advising because of the lack of help she got as a high school student going into college. “While I was in college I started to realize the lack of help I received,” Evora said. She was very unhappy at her college and realized she should have done more research.
While studying at the University of Miami, she worked with other students and with students at her own high school as a college advisor. She has a Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Miami, a Masters degree from Vanderbilt, and is in the process of getting her Doctorate degree in education from George Washington University. She can be found in the CCC on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
