Step into their office and take a look into the future! North Atlanta High School’s new advisors are here to help with life after high school. Diya Kamath and India Jeffries have been introduced to North Atlanta’s College and Career Center (CCC), settling in on the school’s eighth floor for this year. Along with Christian Vergara and Jennifer Anderson, Kamath and Jeffries are now a part of all of the resume building, career searches, college applications, and more that make the CCC the hallmark of post high school planning. With a new year comes new changes, so let’s get to know the new CCC advisors! 

Kamath grew up in Cummings, Georgia and went to the University of Georgia (UGA), majoring in speech language pathology. At UGA, she became a part of their Georgia College Advising Corp, a program that matches their recent college graduates with a high school to help students with their college and career process. Meanwhile, Jeffries grew up in Atlanta at Kipp Atlanta Collegiate High School and majored in public health at UGA, participating in the same program as Kamath. After advising at North Atlanta, Jeffries plans on getting her master’s in health administration at Georgia Southern University. Both of them, of course, have gone through the college process as well, and want to share with their students the ins and outs of college applications and scholarships. “It’s very intensive looking for scholarships that fit you,” Jeffries said, “It wasn’t the applying for it, it was finding it.”

Understanding the college application process for Kamath was hard, having no experience from her family members being the oldest child of immigrant parents. While she had advisors when she was in high school, they weren’t very helpful, so she got help from her friends. As far as writing essays, there were a few opportunities to in her literature class, but that was it. With colleges getting more and more competitive and the growing number of career paths, it can get really stressful and overwhelming for students. Jeffries acknowledges this, and wants her students to be comfortable in reaching out to her or any of the other advisors when they are struggling. For a more comfortable environment, Kamath plans on adding a “relax corner,” a place with coloring sheets and markers to help get students through their college process. “I want to be an advisor who listens to what students want to do, and let them know about opportunities because there are so many different paths,” Kamath said.

Even though they’ll only be at North Atlanta for this year, their students getting much needed help for the future will last much longer. There are so many opportunities and many paths for someone to take, and whatever path they choose, they still need to take that first step. Having an advisor is essential to getting the ball rolling and cultivating a career for each and every senior.