On Jan. 16, principal Jeff Legan announced the hire of Hannah Grazia to be the new senior class guidance counselor.

Grazia was hired to fill the spot that was left vacant after the students returned from winter break.

Grazia used to work at NDCL as “a long-term substitute counselor.” She said, “I got my Masters degree in May, so NDCL was my first counseling job. And then I finished there, and started here on Friday. Before that, I did my internship at Kirtland High School.”

Grazia enjoyed her first day at Mayfield and admits there’s a lot she has to learn to work at a big school. She said, “It’s just learning the system, the curriculum, meeting the counselors. Everyone here is super welcoming and really kind.”

Senior Hunter Jeppe believes that having a new counselor will help. He said, “It takes the stress off the other four counselors, including the Excel TECC counselor. I think it will clear stuff up with the kids.”

Grazia wants to create a nice environment for her students in the counseling office. She said, “I like to make sure they can relate to me and feel comfortable talking to me.”

Grazia has other interests that could help students connect with her. She said, “I am still in school, getting my Masters in mental health counseling. I also enjoy fitness and healthy stuff like that.”

Grazia will fit right in according to sophomore counselor Pamela Bobinski. “We are still giving her tours and she is still learning classroom locations and definitely the students, but she is a quick learner,” Bobinski said.

Bobinski believes that the students will like Grazia. She said, “Hopefully they are going to engage and follow up with her, reach out to her for help. She is very easy to approach and very easy to talk to, so hopefully the students will see that as well.”

Bobinski thinks that having a new counselor will return things to how they were before winter break. She said, “The previous two weeks, we needed to adjust and help pick up [the extra work]. Now that we have [Grazia here], it should be like how it was before.”

Principal Mr. Legan was asked for an interview, but was unavailable to comment.