Early last month, Guidance Counselor Ana Patete sent an email to students announcing her resignation due to “residential relocation.” December 5 was Ms. Patete’s last day at Townsend Harris.
“It has been an honor serving you these past four years,” Ms. Patete said, in an email to her students. “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity I have had to work with you all— your kindness, curiosity, and humor are but a few traits that amaze me day in and day out. I trust you will succeed wherever life takes you.
Ms. Patete has been a guidance counselor at Townsend Harris since 2021. Assistant Principal of Pupil Personnel Services Jessica Graf said that she began working with and mentoring Ms. Patete when she started as an intern in 2019. “It was really a privilege for me to watch her go from being a graduate student, learning the profession of school counseling to [being] the strongest candidate [for the Guidance Counselor position when she was hired],” Ms. Graf said.
The guidance office has not yet found a replacement for Ms. Patete, leaving some freshmen, sophomores, and juniors without a guidance counselor. Ms. Graf told The Classic that the guidance department “is actively in the final stages of a hiring process” and hopes to give updates to the students that currently do not have a full-time guidance counselor. In her email, Ms. Patete assured students that the rest of the department would be helpful in her absence. “My colleagues are phenomenal human beings, and you will be entrusted to the best care,” she wrote.
Ms. Graf said that the “senior classes Ms. Patete covered were reassigned to Ms. Flores’s caseload, just to ensure that there was a person assigned to cover their classes throughout the college applications season.”
In a follow up email to senior students, Ms. Patete wrote, “Ms. Flores brings a wealth of knowledge to our team. We are lucky to have her, and her warmth & kindness are truly unparalleled.”
Ms. Patete’s students shared their thoughts about her work at THHS and her departure.
Freshman Fayyad Zaman said, “My experience [with Ms. Patete] was great. [She] was an amazing counselor who helped me when I needed it.”
“Ms. Patete was a kind and gentle person. She didn’t try to impose in any way,” said sophomore Rahman Arrsath. “When I needed help from guidance I was able to receive it from her.”
Senior Shayra Shoshi said, “I have visited [Ms. Patete’s] office since freshman year and she was always so welcoming and sweet. Talking to her always made me feel like she cared.”
When asked about the college application process, Shayra said that Ms. Patete wrote all her recommendation letters before her resignation. In addition, she’s already been seeing her new counselor, Ms. Flores. “I’ve visited her a few times about my QC class, and she is really helpful,” she said.
