By Beza Kifle
For Lovett’s new Associate Director of College Counseling Ms. Brown, the fall semester has already started off “as kind of crazy.”
College representatives have started coming in, and she and the other counselors have been “tying up loose ends with seniors when it comes to submitting their first apps,” Ms. Brown told me. After our talk, she was going to meet Ms. Sant for their bi-weekly check-in. Although the college counselors have often been cemented to their computers, Ms. Brown said she likes how “every day is a little bit different depending on the time of year.”
Ms. Brown has also been meeting with juniors for the first time—which includes me because I had my first official meeting with her this morning.
Now that I’m a junior, I have already started to get stressed about college. So, I asked her what her biggest tip would be for seniors and juniors right now. “I would say to meet with your college counselor often, even if it’s just like a check-in. I would say weekly or bi-weekly,” she advised. This advice is probably why I have already scheduled another check-in with her this week.
She also said that since there is so much coming up, especially for seniors, it would really be best to take notes or make a to-do list during those meetings. So just set up a meeting, which she told me was in her email signature, and get the help that you need!
I wondered about the kind of help Ms. Brown received when she was in high school. “I got into college admissions and later college counseling because of my college counselor,” she said. “I’m not sure she realized that she made such a big impact.”
Ms. Brown told her college counselor what she was looking for in a school, and her counselor suggested Rhodes College, a school she and her family had never heard of. After visiting, she fell in love and applied early decision. “It was the best fit ever!” she said enthusiastically.
This is why she always tells students to keep an open mind. “Trust that your college counselor has your best interests at heart, and sometimes it’s okay to take a risk and go outside your comfort zone,” she said.
Ms. Brown (and her cat, Poe) are finding their own new comfort zone in Atlanta, having recently moved from Memphis, where she lived since she was 18. She used to work at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, an all-girls K-12 school.
She now has a place in Smyrna, and she said it felt like she was “setting up [her] dorm room, but it’s an actual house.”
Over the summer, she went to a lot of friends’ weddings, bridal and baby showers, which was really exciting. While she said that she doesn’t have anything like her friends on the horizon for now, she has moved in with a boyfriend. “It’s an adjustment, so me and the cat moved in with him,” she told me.
She also has been doing a lot of hikes and going to a lot of Braves games. Of course, she also did the Barbenheimer thing, which she said was fun because she hadn’t been to the movie theater since Top Gun: Maverick, in 2022.
Like everyone, Ms. Brown told me that a downside of living in Atlanta is the traffic. However, she told me that being in a new city means being a little more anonymous than she was in Memphis. “It’s a blessing and a curse that in Memphis, you would walk into a supermarket and recognize at least two or three people,” she told me.
She also ikes how there are multiple professional sports teams here, and is really excited about trying new restaurants since she’s “been going to the same restaurants for 10 years.”
As for pop culture faves, Ms. Brown is a fan of the Real Housewives franchises and 90 Day Fiance. She’s currently watching Real Housewives of Atlanta, but “OC is my favorite,” she told me. She also scrolls on TikTok a lot, which a lot of us can relate to!
Ms. Brown is pretty excited about the upcoming year at Lovett. “I’ve been super impressed with how prepared Lovett students have been,” she told me. She noticed how students have spent their summers being really productive. She likes that “there’s multiple layers of support that students have,” referencing the deans, advisors, and counselors at Lovett.
She is also a big fan of the strong “arts and athletic culture” at Lovett and in Atlanta. She referred to the Lovett-Westminster game saying, “It was just cool to see students on the field and students cheering.” She also hopes to coach swimming here too.
Most of all, Ms. Brown is looking forward to “getting to know new faces here. [Everyone] seems busy and serious about their work, but also happy!”
