As a counselor Matt Willett enters the brick walls of the high school at approximately 7:30 a.m., he goes into his Berlin spirit filled office and turns on his computer. 

“Next step is checking and prioritizing the emails. I check my schedule every day because it’s always different and Ms. Judas helps organize the appointments. She will take kids that want to set up appointments and I most likely will have anywhere between 2-4 student appointments,” Willett said. 

Willett has a working schedule that changes day to day. This is because problems can occur and he will have to deal with those first. Willett most commonly deals with students’ schedule changes and students struggling with their grades.  Willett also has meetings with students almost every day to help them plan for the future. At the beginning of the year he starts with his senior meetings, then after he completes those he goes onto the freshman, then the juniors and lastly the sophomores. Because of the pandemic, Willett learned to navigate Google meets very well and used it for his meetings during the shutdown in the spring last year.

“Next, I have lunch and I look forward to it because we get to go out and see other colleagues. I have lunch with the same group of teachers every day and we talk about how our day is going and the latest sport updates. I never know what will come through the doors after lunch,’’ Willett said. 

After school, Willett starts coaching the cross country team. On days that they have practice, Willett gets done around 5 p.m. and then will head home for the day, but on meet days, Willett won’t be getting home till around 9:30. Willett also coaches track in the spring.  

Willett first started at Berlin in the special education department. He said he loved working with kids and being able to help them. Willett earned his masters degree while teaching. After he completed his program, he started as a counselor and has been a counselor for 13 years now. 

“The most rewarding part for me is just getting to know the students. I love that piece of it. I love being able to communicate with students in the building more than just academically. It goes on a more personal level. I love that part of my job for sure,” Willett said.