Photo by Julie Huynh
Heather Northrop acted as a guidance counselor for freshmen in Boyle and Holland House, but served as interim Brunelli House Principal for Mr. Ray Garcia. This school year, she is keeping her position as Brunelli House Principal.
Besides working as a guidance counselor at Malden High for over ten years for both freshmen and upperclassmen, Northrop also has experience being a director at a summer camp in upstate New York and working as a mentor at a well-known non-profit called Summer Search.
So far, working in this new position has been really good for Northrop. She believes that having a little time in the spring to get familiar in this position “gave [her] some time for trial and error.” Christopher Mastrangelo, Malden High’s principal and colleague of Northrop for over a decade now, explains that when Garcia left mid-last year, he needed to put someone in his place. He chose Northrop because he knew that she had pursued her degree in administration. Mastrangelo believes that “she did a fantastic job” and even though it was one of those situations that could have been bumpy, “it was smooth mainly because of the work she did.”
In the summer, the position was opened up to other candidates because up until this school year, the position Northrop held was only temporary. She went through the interview process like everyone else, but to Mastrangelo, “she had a five month interview last year when she was doing the job.” In his mind, there was “never a doubt that [he] was going to put her in that position.”
There is no question that going from a guidance counselor to house principal is a pretty big jump that comes with a lot of changes. Northrop expresses that “it’s nice to work with a whole house of students” whereas before she was just working with ninth graders in Holland and Boyle. “It’s cool to have my own house and feel like I’m expanding on my impact in working with students,” she adds.
Since Northrop now gets to work with students from all grade levels in the high school, she has the privilege of seeing them progress over time. Northrop thinks that anyone would agree with her when she says that “[students] change a lot over the course of four years in terms of maturity and perhaps better decision making.” Even though she really loved working with ninth graders, seeing the seniors graduate and go through the process of deciding what they want to do is something she looks forward to this year.
Both Northrop and Mastrangelo came to the conclusion that working as a guidance counselor in the school for so long has prepared her for the job in more than one way. Northrop considers being a good listener as “really important… especially [with] young people…” in her specific role as house principal.
Not so much has changed though, because Northrop is now the administrative liaison to the guidance department. So, even though she is no longer in guidance herself, she still works very closely with the staff members in that field. One of these guidance counselors, Susan Lessard, the Brunelli House counselor for grades 10-12, communicates that Northrop is, in fact, “a great listener” who “tries to be very fair and consistent when making decisions.”
In addition, Northrop believes that being patient is a key counseling skill “that [she] think[s] has really helped [her] at times and especially here at Malden High” where “a number of things happen in a day and sometimes you just gotta slow down and refocus and prioritize,” similarly to how students organize their schoolwork.
Northrop continues comparing her role as guidance counselor to her new position as house principal by explaining that as a guidance counselor, a lot of the work is focused on academic counseling and understanding the different areas of the curriculum. As a house principal, it is valuable to be informed about the curriculum and the experience of students in the classroom because when students are preparing for graduation, “it helps to have a really clear understanding of what you need to do.”
Northrop wishes for not only her house, but for all the students at Malden High to be able to reach their potential. “That can mean anything to anyone, and everyone is different in their path.” She wants everyone to be the best version of themselves whether that is “achieving [their] best grades academically” or “being the best athlete [they] can be.” As for herself, she hopes to work on communication with her students, keeping them informed, and knowing all of them. Northrop takes pride in “making sure every student feels known and connected.”
Many people, Mastrangelo among them, are very pleased with Northrop’s new role in the school. He says that he is “a big fan of [her]” and has been for a long time. Lessard agrees that Northrop “has a great future in administration” and is very talented when it comes to her job.
Last school year, Northrop feels like she “just kind of jumped in,” but this year she is ready to do this from start to finish. On November 3rd, Northrop is running the New York Marathon, making it her fourth full marathon. Even though she didn’t do track in high school and only started running because the gym wasn’t accessible to her in college, she’s learned to love it. Life is a marathon and Northrop is just starting hers as Brunelli House Principal.
