2017-2018 school year brings new administrators and counselors

With the new 2017-2018 school year, PHS staff welcomed three new members. Following the retirement of counselors Mr. James Cappuccilli and Ms. Sarah Pavlik, the counseling department was joined by Mr. Edward Reed and Ms. Nelly Boishin, along with a new assistant principal, Ms. Katie Rossini. Long-time Poolesville counselor Mr. David Gysberts has been named the new resource counselor, a position previously held by Pavlik.
Before coming to PHS, Reed worked as a counselor at Thomas S. Wootton High School and Robert Frost Middle School. He was an assistant principal at both Richard Montgomery High School and Winston Churchill High School. Most notably, last school year while at Frost, Reed won the MCPS Counselor of the Year award due to his contributions to the community as the resource counselor. He developed the Leadership Development Program and was also president of the Maryland School Counselors Association.
Reed describes Poolesville as a unique place, filled with charm and challenges. He says he is excited to help students that he notes are “highly driven but also need assistance to be able to navigate through their opportunities.”
Boishin graduated from Johns Hopkins University with her Masters in 2015. Previously a substitute counselor at other MCPS schools, this is her first full-time counseling position. Boishin said that Poolesville was her number one choice to work at. So far, Boishin said she has “loved her experiences at Poolesville” and that the close knit community and the welcoming environment of PHS itself drew her to the school.
With the departure of assistant principal Mr. Richard LaRocca, there is also a new assistant principal, Ms. Katie Rossini. Previously, Rossini worked as an administrator at Roberto Clemente Middle School and more recently as a Student Leadership Coordinator at the MCPS Central Office in Rockville. At the central office, however, she was not able to work with students on a daily basis and says that this was one of her reasons for coming back to work in the school environment.

Rossini explains that this her first time working at a high school, and she explained how she enjoys the “positive environment that the students and staff bring. They stand out because they’re collaborative and supportive.”