As the year comes to a close, unfortunately we will be saying goodbye to School Counselor Christie Williams-Kahn. 

A Morgan Husky since 2014, she grew up in Port Jefferson, Long Island, attending Comsewogue High School. She received her bachelors degree from Quinnipiac University and her master’s degree from the University of Hartford. She started her journey here at Morgan, counseling sophomores and juniors. As written in a previous article, Mrs. Williams-Kahn: Making New Changes in the Guidance Office, when Mrs. Williams-Khan first arrived at Morgan, she “loved the counseling aspect” at her previous school. For the past 9 years, Mrs. Williams-Khan has had a tremendous impact on our school’s community. She’s kind; she’s passionate; she cares deeply, and is a big part of the heart of our school, which makes her farewell especially sad.

Mrs. Williams-Khan partnered with one of our school’s previous school counselors, Jan O’Brien, to develop the Morgan Mentoring Program. Principal Keri Hagness said the “intent was to provide a continuation of the STEP program, where upperclassmen were helping to provide support for the transition of freshman year in advisory. The upperclassmen continued to give advice on different topics.” Mrs. Hagness explained, “that freshman might be more apt to listen to their peers rather than just an adult.”   

Mrs. Hagness described the success of the program: ”It has been very successful, and I think it also empowers students to also see themselves as leaders.”  Mrs. Hagness knows “helping others just helps you, overall, better yourself.” The mentoring and STEP program provides students with these opportunities. 

Mrs. Williams-Kahn’s goal when she accepted the job at Morgan was to make a change. Needless to say, she achieved that goal. She has been involved in so many student resource programs from G2G What is G2G?, Hello Week Promoting Positivity with Hello Week, mentoring Return of the Morgan Mentors, STEP, and so much more. 

Mrs. Williams Kahn never gave up on her students. Not only is she a powerful educator, but she is also someone who the students confide in. Mrs. Williams-Kahn makes it known that her door is open if any students need her help. Senior Mikayla Brotz said, “During finals my sophomore year, I was having a ton of anxiety with the test that I was taking, and I was having a bad moment, so I decided to take a step out, go to guidance to take a break, and she brought me outside to take a nice calming walk to talk me through it.” Mikayla said this helped her feel better and complete her final. She said that this was “considerate of her, and I greatly appreciate her. Any time I see her in the hallways, she always goes out of her way to say hi to me and greets me with a smile, which really makes my day. She will be greatly missed here.”

Mrs. Williams-Kahn is a valued educator at Morgan.

To Mrs. Williams Kahn, I hope you realize how much you’ve impacted the lives of Morgan students for the better. Best of luck beginning your new adventure as a school counselor at Old Lyme High School.