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Nancy Griffin is the executive secretary for the principal. This is her 11th year at WHS. She previously worked for the district in the central office at Southwest School. One of the biggest responsibilities she has is managing the WHS budget. She manages the budget for supplies, equipment and repairs for all of the departments. Griffin explains that she struggles to see or know many students and that it would be nice to be able to interact with them more. She says the best part of working here is hearing about the success stories of students. She says, “I believe everyone here is capable of graduating and living their own dreams.” Her office is located within the main office, and she is normally there during the school day. During covid Griffin worked from home but when she came back in April 2021 she described the time in the school as “eerie and super quiet.” She thinks this year has been better, but still not the normal that she remembers. Griffin likes to listen to a variety of music; she enjoys pop, country, classical, folk, she explains that it always depends on her mood.

Wendy Morris is the athletic secretary. She has been working here for three years. Morris is mostly in charge of making sure everyone is up to date. For example she checks if student-athletes who register for sports have a complete registration. She also makes sure all coaches are up to date with their coaching certificate and if they have the requirements needed as well. She also is in charge of entering this information into the CIAC database each season. Morris also submits almost everything for the athletic department. Morris thinks the hardest part of working here is getting everything done each day. She says, “I would have never realized how busy and how many things are involved in running the athletic department of a high school. It’s a LOT of work!” Morris loves her office, it’s in the field house right across from Mrs. Gwudz’s office. She has a window that looks into the field house. Since covid she has noticed that it’s harder for her to tell who everybody is with the masks on. Morris says that when it comes to music she is “all over the place” she explains; “I tend to find a song I like and then play it to death until I’m sick of it” her favorites on spotify are AC/DC, Toby Keith, Eric Church, Rehab, Luke Combs, Flo Rida & Little Big Town. However, she claims to enjoy most of the different playlists that the PE teachers play in the field house. A fun fact about Morris is that she has her nail technician license, but she doesn’t do nails for clients anymore.

Alissa Malhoit is an administrative secretary. She has just started her second year here at WHS. Malhoit is Mr. Samuelson’s assistant and she runs the desk in the 2nd floor office. She is responsible for many different things like the school’s daily substitutes, senior awards, and student parking. Malhoit explains that she doesn’t get as many visitors as she would like in her office, but she loves when students come to her and say hi. Although she hasn’t been at WHS for very long, she explains, “I think it can be challenging to balance all the different things going on.” Malhoit says that for music she loves listening to anything R&B. Something interesting about her is that she is a big supporter of female rappers. She says, “I think it’s really refreshing to see how far female artists have come in the last 10 years.”

Emma Barnes has started her third year working at WHS. Barnes explains that It’s tough to describe what her main job is, but she says that she mostly helps students, whether it’s finding a book they should read, or helping with computer issues, or just being someone they can talk to. Her desk is located in the library. She is the first person you see when you walk into the library. Barnes also helps buy books for our collection, and she processes them so they are ready to be checked out. She helps run a book club here called “Teens Talk Books” They recently genre-fied the fiction section, which was a huge project. Barnes thinks the hardest thing about working here is getting up at 5 am to make it to work on time. She lives about 50 minutes away so mornings can be really difficult for her sometimes. Barnes says, “I love every aspect of working here to be honest, but if I had to choose one it would be working with the students or just chatting with them throughout the day.” Since covid, she has noticed the chromebook situation change. Before Covid, the library had a large supply of chromebooks that would be checked out of school on a daily basis. Now, we have a 1-to-1 ratio, there aren’t nearly as many and not as many students need them. Barnes states, “Another difference is the plexiglass. It has been a challenge to hear what students are saying behind the plexiglass.” Barnes tends to listen to a lot of country music, but her favorite artist is Ed Sheeran.

Ruby Rosado is an administrative secretary. She has been working at the school for almost 4 years. It is her second school year in this position, she was a para when she first started working here. To name a few of her tasks Rosado answers the main phone of the school, checks in visitors and students, and receives all the mail and any deliveries. She also makes all announcement requests, makes morning announcements and updates the announcements page of our school website. Rosado says, “the hardest thing for me is when I see students having a hard time, not doing their best in school or not taking advantage of the opportunity they have while in high school.” Rosado thinks the best part about working here is the relationships you build with students and teachers. Her office is downstairs in the 1st floor Main office, this is where she spends all of her time during the day. Since Covid, Rosado has noticed that with the protocols restricting visitors it has been challenging. Last year when there were cohorts and less than half the students in the building at one time, it was much slower during the day. Now she says; “this year with all of the students back it’s definitely much busier and more phone calls from parents with questions.” Rosado mainly listens to gospel, contemporary jazz, and Latin music but she likes a variety.

Amanda Leslie is the counseling secretary. So her main job includes: coordinating times for students to meet with their counselors, uploading scholarships to Naviance, setting up the College and Career Fair, preparing transcripts for students, registrations, and helping with various other tasks in the guidance suite. She has worked here for just over 2 years. Leslie explains that the hardest part about working at WHS is the students in the office area although it does help the day move quicker. Her office is located on the first floor, in the guidance office. Covid has put many limitations on the amount of people they can have in the guidance office at once. Sometimes this helps because you can get information quicker. For music, Leslie listens to pretty much everything. She says “you can find me dancing to anything from 80’s/90’s dance to alternative rock and rap/r&b.”

Christine Blain is the attendance secretary. Blain has been working at the school for a little less than 2 years. Her main job is to record all of the students’ attendance every day. This includes keeping track of absences, tardies, and dismissals. She says that the hardest thing about working here is “simply making sure the attendance for each and every student is accurate on a daily basis.” She describes how it is receiving so many phone calls and emails throughout the course of a day from parents, teachers, and students. This can sometimes be a challenge to make sure everything is recorded correctly. However, the best part about working here is seeing the students come in and out every day. She enjoys talking with them and hearing about what’s going on in their lives. Blain says, “I love to sometimes be the first one to see them come in when they just got their driver’s license, or have just gotten their braces off, or to see how excited they are when they have to leave school early to go play in a big game, or visit a college.” Her office is located just after the first floor main office. She has a little window where students can stop by and sign themselves in and out of school. Since covid, keeping track of students who are sick and who have been asked to quarantine on top of all of my other duties has been difficult. For music, Blain mostly listens to a variety of Top 40 music with her daughter.