“Just take a deep breath and believe in yourself. Trust who you are and what you’ve done,” said Kassy Fritz, Hackley’s new Director of College Counseling.
Coming from Philip’s Academy-Andover, a large boarding school in Massachusetts, as well as other independent schools in New England and Delaware, Ms. Fritz joins the Hilltop with years of experience as a teacher and a college counselor. Although she started her career as a history and French teacher, she ultimately turned to college counseling because she felt it combined everything she loved about teaching.
“As I navigated different school communities, I ultimately landed doing college counseling work. For me, it combines all the things I love about being a part of a school community, which is working with students, particularly being a part of this critical and exciting time in their lives,” she said.
Learning about Hackley through her husband, who used to work on the Hilltop years ago, Ms. Fritz always admired Hackley even when she worked at different schools. From seeing the community’s commitment to academics, athletics, and the arts, Ms. Fritz knew that she wanted to become part of the Hackley community.
When it comes to her plans for our college counseling program, Ms. Fritz makes it clear that she wants to continue building on the great work that’s already been established. She hopes to integrate more aspects of Hackley’s community into the college process, like collaborating with other teachers and department chairs, for example, to prevent the department from becoming a standalone office.
Furthermore, by providing more information to both students and families, she believes stronger relationships can be built throughout the application process. Through this care and compassion, she wants to make the college counseling sector of Hackley a safe and helpful place for all students, even those in ninth and tenth grade who may not know much about the process.
“I want students to be able to come up to this space and feel supported,” said Ms. Fritz.
In addition, she plans to work on Hackley’s school profile which gets sent to colleges alongside students’ applications. This document helps colleges interpret a student’s transcript by giving them context on Hackley’s academics and school environment.
“So often it feels like the college process is happening to students and they feel like they have no control. But you actually have a ton of agency through this process: you have agency in the ways you explore who you are and what you bring into the process,” she said.
One thing Ms. Fritz wants to emphasize is that the college application process should be a process that is embraced and added to, rather than a process happening to students. The way you attack the process is key to a successful experience she believes.
One way students can take initiative is to reflect on their Hackley experience to identify which aspects they want to continue to have in college or which areas they may want to leave behind.
She also wants to remind students to have faith in themselves and all the work they’ve put into their high school years in preparation for this process. In addition to this individual trust, she urges the senior class to be there for each other and work as a team.
“I honestly don’t feel like any high school can promise an outcome, but I absolutely think we ought to be able to promise you a really thoughtful, careful, and supportive process,” said Ms. Fritz.
