Counselor Lora Hunter is leaving at the end of the school year to pursue a teaching credential. Hunter became a counselor two years ago and has spent both of those years at the school.

Before becoming a counselor, Hunter had on being a teacher. She had already completed much of her teaching credential before deciding to pursue a career in counseling.

“Counselors have a lot of impact on students’ futures,” Hunter said. “They work with a diverse pool of students and officially connect to families.”

Although she has enjoyed her time at the school, she is excited about finishing her credential.

“I want to finish what I have started,” she said.

Hunter estimates it will take approximately one year to finish her teaching credential, at which point she would love to come back to the school.

“I really enjoyed my time as a counselor at the school,” Hunter said. “The students, parents and faculty are wonderful and engaged.”

According to Principal Wynne Satterwhite, Hunter handed in a letter of resignation in the beginning of February. The Counseling Department has already begun to look for a replacement for Hunter. On Thursday, April 3, the counselors interviewed applicants and chose four to be interviewed by Satterwhite for a final decision.

Some of Hunter’s junior counselees are worried about her leaving and the effect it will have on their college applications. For private universities, counselors write letters of recommendation; when Hunter leaves, some juniors will have a counselor they have met only once.

“This will be the third counselor that I have had in four years,” junior Nima Emami said. “I don’t understand what the purpose of having a counselor write my recommendation is when I haven’t had the opportunity to establish a relationship with them.”

However, Hunter does not think this will be a problem. In fact, she had to do the same when she took over for former counselor Tammy Esrailian two years ago.

“I took the time to get to know each of my students,” Hunter said. “I kept their letters open so students could make sure they were correct.”

Hunter has gone even further to ease the workload on next year’s counselor. She has made a list of all her students who will need letters of recommendation for private colleges and plans on writing notes to help her replacement to get to know the students.