We’ve got two new counselors joining the Collegewise family today. First, meet Kira Grant, Director of our office in Tenafly New Jersey where she’ll be working with Nan Yuasa.
Kira is a 2009 graduate of Cornell University where she interned in the admissions office and spent many semesters on the dean’s list. Her collegiate academic achievements were no surprise to anyone who knew Kira in high school—as a senior, she nearly swept the academic department awards, even nabbing the elusive P.E. award where her unbridled enthusiasm for every unit from square dancing to health overcame what Kira describes as “only slightly above average athleticism.” After Cornell, Kira spent four years in the admissions office at Vassar College where she eventually became a senior assistant director, evaluating approximately 800 applications each year. Kira is the first counselor at Collegewise to hold a world record—she was part of a group of 872 people who popped bubble wrap at the same time, shattering the previous record of 521 simultaneous bubble-wrap-poppers. Ever the good sport who brims with positivity even in the face of stress, Kira happily dons ridiculous costumes whenever the opportunity arises, including recent unveilings of a gorilla suit and a dinosaur costume (note to Kira’s students: schedule an appointment to meet with her on Halloween—it will be worth it). Other things Kira is always happy to do: bake cookies, play Frisbee, and be the weakest link during yard games like bocce ball and croquet.
Now, meet Tom Barry, who’s joining as a college counselor in our Bellevue Washington, office.
Tom served four years as an assistant director of admissions at his alma mater, Colorado College, home of the beloved Block Plan where students plunge into one course at a time for three-and-a-half weeks before moving on to a new subject. After earning a master’s in international education administration from Stanford, Tom worked as a global programs manager for the African Leadership Academy before migrating to the Pacific Northwest to join Collegewise in June 2014. Through two schools, two states, and too many countries visited to count, Tom’s subscription to—and fervent devouring of—National Geographic has remained a constant in his life. Though true to his collegiate heritage, Tom prefers to intensely focus on one issue at a time for several weeks rather than dilute his attention over multiple issues at once. A budding master chef who can flip food in a pan with only the rare catastrophic floor drop, Tom won first place in the “Took a Risk and Totally Nailed It” category of a recent pie-baking competition for his original creation, The Burrito Pie. When he’s not counseling or cooking, Tom enjoys traveling, spending time in the great outdoors, and writing product reviews for USA Triathlon magazine. Tom does not, however, personally compete in triathlons. Why? Because in the “Stuff We Couldn’t Possibly Make Up” category, while Tom enjoys running, cycling and swimming, he prefers to focus on one at a time rather than combine the three into an event. Multi-task, shmulti-task.
Kira and Tom are joining Nan and Rebecca in Seattle this week for training with both Katie Konrad Moore and yours truly. Once again, we’ve managed to find some incredible teammates to join us. We couldn’t be more excited about working with them.
Welcome, Kira and Tom!