LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Karen McCrillis was nominated by her colleague, Robert Bardwell.

Ms. McCrillis is the ninth grade school counselor at Gardner High School, as well as the district guidance coordinator. She is given high praise from her colleagues, administrators, and students for her caring demeanor, coupled with an unending supply of energy, passion and enthusiasm. Compassionate, inspirational, coordinated, attentive, helpful, and mostly selfless are words that can be used to describe her.

“Karen has the best interest of all students," said Mark Pellegrino, Gardner Public Schools superintendent. "She does not tolerate mediocrity or exclusivity.  She is truly the best.”

In her district role, she meets monthly with the principals in the district to promote the importance of the school counselor’s role. As a result of her efforts, the district counselors have introduced more social-emotional learning and data-driven programs, and they regularly analyze and review data to make sure their curriculum is effective. She coordinates monthly staff meetings, collaborates with the Massachusetts School Mental Health Consortium, and organizes relative, impactful professional development for school counselors and related service providers.  She also requires her school counseling colleagues to be accountable by providing yearly data and action plans which ultimately advantage their students. Ms. McCrillis does all of this in addition to having a caseload of 138 9th graders at the high school.

Additionally, Ms. McCrillis has also created and organized the LINK crew transition to high school program. She also single-handedly coordinates the annual eighth grade career fair.

"It was the best career fair I have ever seen.  Students told me, personally, that it was a great event," said Pellegrino. "What really impressed me was that the adult participants said it was an unbelievable time. They loved the original format, and said it was great to be able to share their craft with interested students in a personal way.” 

Ms. McCrillis' impact reaches far beyond the walls of the high school. She has clearly demonstrated her passion and commitment to her students, families and the greater Gardner community.  Because of her work, she was honored as the 2020 School Counselor of the Year by the Massachusetts School Counselor Association (MASCA) at a surprise school assembly on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 at 8:30 AM.  McCrillis will represent Massachusetts at the national school counselor of the year gala in February 2021.

“MASCA is proud to honor such a dedicated and passionate school counselor as the 2020 School Counselor of the Year.  She is truly an inspiration to all of us," said Robert Bardwell, MASCA Executive Director.

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