After being a student at Malden High almost nine years ago, Amy Yu has returned to the high school as a new guidance counselor for freshmen in Brunelli and Jenkins houses. In her sophomore and junior year, Yu was struggling when met George Lyons, an adjustment counselor who has since retired from Malden High. She stated that Lyons “. . .opened up the opportunity to let [her] know that [there is] a lot more beyond” high school. With the help of her guidance counselor, Yu made the decision that she wanted to help students as well. Learning from them was what “motivated [her] to give back to Malden.”
Yu was born in Boston and grew up in Malden. She attended Wheaton College for her undergraduate degree in Psychology and received her Master’s degree in School Counseling from Purdue University. Yu also studied at Fudan University in Shanghai, China and is advanced in Mandarin. She explained that she studied Chinese “mainly because [her] family is Chinese and [she thinks it is] important as a first generation student to really connect with your own culture.”
When asked about Yu, the Director of School Guidance, Erin Craven, stated that “[Yu] is [a] very positive, enthusiastic person, [and she is] always helping out” by looking for ways she can solve problems. She holds a lot of pride from being from Malden and is “always upbeat and positive.”
Brunelli House Principal and former Freshman Counselor, Heather Northrop, who met Yu for the first time this year stated that “[although she did not] know her before, Yu is very hard-working” and has a strong academic background. She “[is] someone who [is] invested and [cares] about the community.”
Boyle House Principal Stephanie Sibley, who also met Yu for the first time, said “[Yu is] very energetic, and has a lot of passion around [her] work,” adding that “she takes initiative.”
As we are in the middle of a pandemic and there are uncertainties about returning to the building, Yu shared the struggles of being a guidance counselor in a remote format. She stated that “the biggest struggle, for sure, is not being able to see students” in person. Due to distance learning, building relationships with students can sometimes be “awkward [if she cannot] see their facial expressions.”
After graduating from her master’s program she worked as a mentor and a post-secondary program coordinator at Summer Search. She described her experience as being a mentor for two years as “really amazing,” and as something that “prepared [her with] school counseling skills and helped [her] with financial aid.”
Yu wanted to work at Malden High because “[she] went to different schools and [had been] in long term positions as a school counselor” that were all different from Malden, and “[she missed] having that connection.”
A previous version of this article reported that George Lyons was a guidance counselor, instead of an adjustment counselor. It also reported that Yu participated in the Summer Search program during her high school years. She did not. These errors are corrected in the current version.
