Behind every successful school stands a team of  staff members who work hard to support students and create a positive learning environment. At EPHS, staff work together to help students and help one another. From teachers and counselors to administrators and support staff, each member plays a role in helping students with their education. In this article, we will introduce you to some of the people who go above and beyond to create a supportive learning environment for all students attending EPHS. 

The staff at EPHS we will be interviewing are Dr. Brode-Rico, Mrs. Andrews, Mr. Zervos, Ms. Vasey, Ms. Chaplinsky, Mrs. Leone, Mr. Orozco, Mr. Diaz, Ms. Garcia, Ms. Parravivini, and Ms. Velez.

Dr. Brode-Rico

Dr. Brode-Rico, the EPHS Principal of two years and counting, appreciates the smaller community feel of the school and the surrounding area of Elmwood Park. She finds her job very rewarding 95% of the time and enjoys the variety, noting that not everyday is the same, though every Tuesday involves a meeting with all department chairs. Her philosophy centers on helping students and setting them up for success, which sometimes means saying no, despite her dislike in doing so. She values collaboration with staff and maintains an open-door policy. She appreciates staff and shows this support with treats like coffee carts and raffles.

In addition, she likes to see the progress that seniors have made. Her love for graduation stems from her time as a former senior sponsor and athletic director, as well as her 15 years as a social studies teacher. She enjoys watching school athletes and events, especially cross country (as a runner herself) and wrestling (which her husband coaches and daughter participates in). She has run five marathons (four in Chicago and one in Berlin, Germany). She believes teaching is the best job ever and hopes people see how rewarding her current role is, despite less student interaction. She also mentioned a memorable experience she had during an outdoor graduation two years ago: trying to hold a ceremony through the noise of the cicadas. Finally, she believes that as AI adapts, more things will need to be taught to prepare students for the future.

Mrs. Andrews

Mrs. Andrews is the Assistant Principal of EPHS, where she has worked for 10 consecutive years and has been in and out of the district for 20 years. She was originally a science teacher, then a dean, and now serves as an assistant principal. In her current role, she is in charge of tests, like Progress Learning, as well as the counselors, deans, and social workers. She works to maintain a positive climate for both staff and students by having lots of meetings and walking around the building to collaborate. She also has an open-door policy and is always available by phone to help teachers.

Mrs. Andrews loves to see students succeed and hopes every student can find their way. She finds it rewarding to watch kids grow and leave the school feeling hopeful for the future. She is passionate about making positive changes in the school and believes everyone’s path is different, so they should always have hope and move forward. She loves the feeling of EPHS, which she describes as having a “small town and big city feeling.” She also enjoys “Spike for a Cause” because she used to play volleyball. In addition, she loves attending football games and graduation. She thinks it’s “really cool” that the school started a girls flag football team. On a more personal note, her biggest challenge she faces is time in a day because she says there is little time but so much work to do, so her superpower of choice would be teleportation to get places quicker. She also loves to play Candy Crush to relax her brain and is currently on level 16,031.

Mr. Zervos

Mr. Zervos is the A-L Dean of Students; this is his first year as an administrator, a new challenge he was ready for. He normally has meetings and deals with all the referrals from teachers. He loves to see the growth in students, even though some are harder to make an impact on, and his goal is to help all of them reach their post-high school goals. He appreciates the great community and diversity, as well as the student and staff involvement. He feels the role involves more than just discipline; it’s about ensuring everything runs smoothly. He attends all staff events to connect with everyone and emphasizes that they do everything in their power to support the students here.

Personally, Mr. Zervos played baseball (his favorite sport), football, and wrestling and still loves the games. He hopes the ACT scores will increase and just wants to help students the best he can. He enjoys learning about new students, and, in a recent interaction he had with a student at wrestling practice, a student asked him questions about his old wrestling career, which he appreciated. He believes people control their own destiny and wants to be in multiple places at once to avoid falling behind when people need help. He also plays softball and likes to work out.

 Ms. Vasey

Ms. Vasey is the Dean of Students M-Z at EPHS; this is her first year as a dean after working as a social worker for four years. She finds it to be a hard switch from her previous job, partly because it’s difficult for her to discipline students, even though she knows it’s her job. Ms. Vasey did say, however, “I feel very comfortable at this school; it is a safe environment for students to learn.” Every day is different for Ms. Vasey, with student altercations and meetings. She loves working with the seniors because she started working with them when they were freshmen, so, in a sense, they “started high school” together. She feels a great sense of accomplishment when students she has worked with tell her they want to become social workers because it’s rewarding for her to realize the strong impact she has had on the kids she helped. She is also deeply moved whenever this comes to her attention because her own high school social worker had a big impact on her. She works to ensure all students and teachers feel comfortable and supports the teachers in their challenging work. She loves holiday parties and events with teachers because it brings them closer together. She wants to start a peer jury to hold students accountable and hear more from students to understand their day-to-day feelings. She advises students to enjoy high school, get involved, and find a trusted adult because she wants everyone to feel safe and have a great high school experience. A fun fact about her is that she was a D1 track athlete at Oklahoma State, and she loves coaching and playing volleyball with the team. She also wishes she could read minds or travel back in time because there are always three sides to every story, two people’s sides and what really happened, which is why, she says, it’s hard for her to discipline students: because she wasn’t there to witness what actually happened. 

 Ms. Chaplinsky

Ms. Chaplinsky is a school counselor in her second year, working with students whose last names are at the beginning of the alphabet. She loves the small school environment, which makes it easy to meet all the kids, and she appreciates the community. Her job is fun because every day is different, and she helps kids with their problems as a 504 case manager, requiring her to be flexible. She finds the students great and enjoys watching them grow from freshmen to seniors. A big challenge for her role is that this is her first job after getting her Master’s, so she is still learning from her peers. She hopes students see her as a friendly face and as their cheerleader. She loves the staff and student relationships and feels they can communicate comfortably. She notes there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work that people don’t know about, and she communicates with staff to get help or ask for teachers’ opinions on how to support students as needed. The school puts in a lot of effort to make the staff feel comfortable, positive, safe, and appreciated. She loves pep assemblies and the school spirit. She hopes the school will grow with the times and stay current with student needs. She feels lucky to have a job that will help her connect with kids more and more, although she wishes she had teleportation to avoid driving to and from work. She appreciates how real the high schoolers are and found last year’s graduation cool because she saw the students reach a huge milestone. She advises students to take school seriously, because they will miss it, and to make sure they know that everything happens for a reason. She was a cheerleader in high school, a fun team sport she feels is under-recognized.

Mrs. Leone

Mrs. Leone is a school consular who works with grade levels in the middle of the alphabet and helps with all support needs. She has been working at EPHS for three years. She enjoys the very close-knit community and the great student body population. Currently, she is working on course selections, but, normally, she helps students with questions and attends many meetings. She does wish she had a superpower to help her write emails! She loves building relationships with her students, helping them, and learning about their aspirations after high school. She finds it very rewarding to help students with a low number of credits graduate and see them walk across the stage. Mrs. Leone explains that every day is an adventure with a different schedule; however, she hopes to always be there for the students and parents. She wants them to feel comfortable talking to her. She believes the EPHS community is great and that the principal is very close with everyone. She discussed how the administrators are always involved and offer things to the staff, which shows they care. She collaborates through meetings to help deal with situations but does wish that people knew how everyone is always trying their best. She enjoys the many spirit weeks that include dress up days, like PJ day, and pep rallies. Her goal is to provide students with all the opportunities she can and help them see everything they can do for themselves. She advises students to enjoy high school, because college is different, and not to rush being a kid. She won State for dance when she was in high school and loves the amount of sports and clubs available here at EPHS because of the opportunities they provide. 

Mr. Orozco 

 Mr. Orozco is a school counselor who has been in his role for three months. He chose to work at EPHS because of its diverse and smaller population, which allows him to connect with students and staff more easily. He helps students in categories such as academics and social emotional wellness. While his weeks vary, he is currently helping juniors pick classes for next year. He wishes people knew how busy his job is and would like to be able to read minds to better understand his students but overall knows that the most rewarding part of his job is helping students become the best they can be. A big challenge for him is helping students who don’t see their full potential. He collaborates with other staff to support at-risk students and enjoys staff and students getting involved, like with “Spike for a Cause” and “Dots for Doughnuts.” Also, his favorite sport at EPHS is softball.

Mr. Orozco hopes the school receives enough resources and that his role will evolve to include new technologies, like AI. He wants to show students that AI can help in some ways but can also interfere with their learning progress. He loves getting to know each student’s story and believes it is important to tell students that it is okay to make mistakes as long as they learn from them. He recently chaperoned Homecoming and found it great to see everyone enjoying themselves.

 Mr. Diaz

Mr. Diaz’s role is a school social worker who meets the social and emotional needs of students. This is his fourth year and he grew up in the area wanting to work in his community. He arrives around 7:30 a.m., meeting with parents, staff, and students, including those in special education, to discuss their lives and areas needing support. He assists with coping skills and helps students grief with trauma, finding it nice to help students realize their self worth. He feels experienced and capable of providing leadership and support to newer staff without being bossy. He loves the people he works with and influencing staff positively, although personally wants to have better organizational skills. . Challenges involve dealing with students who have been through a lot and the limitations within Elmwood Park High School students, such as students’ financial, housing, and mental health issues. He hopes to plant seeds of truth and understanding to guide and mature students, wishing to be remembered as helpful. It is a small, diverse K-12 community with 1,000 high school students, allowing connections with former teachers, he discusses. The staff is open to change and wants to help students grow. The job is hard, but even the hardest students have amazing outcomes and most want to change for the better. He hopes staff view him as an open door for discussion with students. The principal and vice principal also have an open-door policy and he appreciates it a lot. He loves sports and evolution, hoping the staff continues forming relationships with students and parents. He can see his role staying the same but personally hopes people feel safe talking to him. Meeting different types of people and hearing about their future goals is great, and seeing students develop into more mature individuals is rewarding. He advises patience with oneself and knowing what is important. Even he failed a lot when he was in college and it took him some time to find himself.

Ms. Garcia

Ms. Garcia is a social worker in her second year. She supports students and staff, including those with special needs. She graduated from EPHS in 2014 and found it nice to return after grad school. Her days are varied, involving meeting students, running groups, and attending meetings. She enjoys working with students on a deeper, non-academic level. A challenge she faces is that students sometimes do not know about social workers, making engagement difficult. She hopes to have a positive impact and wants kids to know she is always there to help them, especially when it comes to navigating high school. She appreciates the diversity at the school now compared to when she was a student. Her job is very rewarding but can be hard and mentally draining; sometimes she wishes for a magic wand to make every problem go away. She loves the community at the school, where staff have an open-door policy and are always welcoming. She enjoys pep assemblies and athletic events and appreciates the school’s communication with families. She hopes everyone is kind to each other because everyone is going through something. She wants to be more involved in the community and outside resources, as she normally stays in her office. She loves hearing everyone’s unique perspectives and interacting with their amazing traits. As an intern, she worked with a senior from Colombia and loved seeing her overcome mental health struggles. She advises not taking life too seriously. Although she had no idea what to do when she grew up, she realized social work was her passion in college.

Ms. Parravicini

Ms. Parravicini is a social worker in her fifth year, with one year here at EPHS. She previously worked at Ridgewood and still coaches there. When her friend, Ms. Garcia, told her about a job opening at EP, she applied since she used to live close to this area. In her role, she covers Pes-Z and runs a weekly group to work on social emotional health. Ms. P gets a caseload of students each week, putting herself out there for any student in her alphabet split. She believes in building connections with them and being a trusted adult, and she loves getting to know their interests. Although she does wish that people knew that social workers have more work than just sitting and talking all day, unfortunately! She has helped overwhelmed students, which made her feel great, but also admits that sometimes when you try to provide guidance it doesn’t always end up working out at the end of the day. Still, she works to create a safe and comfortable environment and notes that the school is very community-based. She also mentioned that there is constant collaboration, so she learns new things every day and thinks the school is doing a great job. She advises that social media can be impactful on mental health and should not interfere with school life. Personally, her favorite sports are basketball and softball, and if she can have any superpower to help her as a social worker, she’d pick “power” to not get tired.

Ms. Velez

 Ms. Velez is a school nurse who has been in her role for a year and a half. She chose this path to move away from bedside nursing and work within a community setting. Her daily work involves managing sick and injured students, coordinating care with doctors and therapists, and ensuring students are safe and healthy. Although she is the only nurse and finds the role challenging, she loves it and wouldn’t change it for the world. She believes in collaborating with counselors, social workers, and teachers to ensure everyone is on the same page. Ms. Velez also focuses on building trust with students, helping them feel comfortable enough to open up about their problems and reminding them that things will get better. In her personal life, she loves sports, particularly volleyball, which she played actively in high school. She hopes to obtain more certifications to continue her work in the school for a long time.

The EPHS Student Support Team is full of caring and hardworking people whose main goal is to help the students improve and succeed no matter what their official title is, whether they are administrators, counselors, deans, social workers, or the school nurse. Every staff member works to make the school a safe, supportive, and welcoming place. Students are encouraged to grow, get involved, and find confidence in themselves. Learning about the EPHS students shows how much they care about the community and how hard they work to ensure every student has the best high school experience possible. 

Work Cited:

Dr. Brode-Rico

Mrs. Andrews

Mr. Zervos

Ms. Vasey

Ms. Chimplinsky

Mr. Diaz

Ms. Leone

Mr. Orozco

Ms. Garcia

Ms. Parravicini 

Ms. Velez