Gooseberry High - Staff & Teachers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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gooseberryhigh2017-02-03 08:52 am
goosestaff) wrote in gooseberryhigh2017-02-03 08:52 am
Entry tags:
MEETINGS WITH MERRILL
Since Katya Ivanova has the whole Friday afternoon free, Mr. Merrill asks her to walk with him to his office right after lunch. Although he tries along the way to be his usual chipper self and set her at ease with jokes, it's obvious once he closes the door that this will be a serious conversation.
Merrill comes right out with it. "Katya, I'm reassigning your prefect badge. I promise you I've spent a long time mulling this over, and I'm not choosing this lightly. You have a good heart and you care about protecting others, but I'm afraid it wasn't fair of me to put this on your shoulders when you already have so much to deal with. I want you to take the time to focus on you, and your health." He touches a folded piece of paper on his desk—the letter Katya wrote him last month—and adds that he appreciates her opinion and will be following her recommendation to pass the badge to Addy.
"I have noticed you've been doing better lately," he says. "Which is fantastic! I'm really hoping that taking the pressure off you will help you continue that progress. And seriously, Katya, I want you to tell me if there's anything else I can do for you. But... if you want to humor me, I've got a couple of suggestions." Merrill is recommending that Katya see the school counselor they'll be hiring soon. He won't force her, especially if her mother or stepfather give her permission to skip it, but he urges her to try it out a bit. Also, Ms. Whittle came to see him about doing an independent study with Katya.
Merrill hands a few sheets of paper over: neatly stapled in the corner, and typed from a computer, in defiance of wizarding customs. Whittle thinks Katya has a future in Astronomy, and has briefly detailed a plan to prepare her for muggle university after graduation. It involves a combination of twice weekly tutoring lessons with Whittle, and a distance learning math class, particularly in calculus. It ends with a note from Ms. Whittle: I know it's not easy to jump from a magical education to a muggle university... but if you trust me, K, I'll help you reach the stars. Ms. W 👽 (She signs off with a little doodle of a grey alien.)
After the meeting with Katya, Mr. Merrill tracks down Addy Foster-Hayes in the Potions lab. "Addy! What's cooking?" he greets her cheerfully, and leans in to smell the cauldron, despite Mr. Elmasry being right there, trying to stop his old teacher from discovering a fresh batch of the immunity-boosting potion. For his part, Merrill pretends he doesn't recognize it, and asks Addy for a private conversation. He very briefly details what's going on with Katya, and then holds out his hand, with an azure blue prefect badge in his palm.
"I didn't want to give you this because I worried it would just stress you out," Merrill admits. He's been worrying a lot lately about the extra pressure that's on all of the prefects in Azurcrest. "But Katya recommended you as her replacement, and Mr. Elmasry over there vouched for you. He thinks you're up to the job... and I do too, but only if you want it, Addy."
Merrill comes right out with it. "Katya, I'm reassigning your prefect badge. I promise you I've spent a long time mulling this over, and I'm not choosing this lightly. You have a good heart and you care about protecting others, but I'm afraid it wasn't fair of me to put this on your shoulders when you already have so much to deal with. I want you to take the time to focus on you, and your health." He touches a folded piece of paper on his desk—the letter Katya wrote him last month—and adds that he appreciates her opinion and will be following her recommendation to pass the badge to Addy.
"I have noticed you've been doing better lately," he says. "Which is fantastic! I'm really hoping that taking the pressure off you will help you continue that progress. And seriously, Katya, I want you to tell me if there's anything else I can do for you. But... if you want to humor me, I've got a couple of suggestions." Merrill is recommending that Katya see the school counselor they'll be hiring soon. He won't force her, especially if her mother or stepfather give her permission to skip it, but he urges her to try it out a bit. Also, Ms. Whittle came to see him about doing an independent study with Katya.
Merrill hands a few sheets of paper over: neatly stapled in the corner, and typed from a computer, in defiance of wizarding customs. Whittle thinks Katya has a future in Astronomy, and has briefly detailed a plan to prepare her for muggle university after graduation. It involves a combination of twice weekly tutoring lessons with Whittle, and a distance learning math class, particularly in calculus. It ends with a note from Ms. Whittle: I know it's not easy to jump from a magical education to a muggle university... but if you trust me, K, I'll help you reach the stars. Ms. W 👽 (She signs off with a little doodle of a grey alien.)
After the meeting with Katya, Mr. Merrill tracks down Addy Foster-Hayes in the Potions lab. "Addy! What's cooking?" he greets her cheerfully, and leans in to smell the cauldron, despite Mr. Elmasry being right there, trying to stop his old teacher from discovering a fresh batch of the immunity-boosting potion. For his part, Merrill pretends he doesn't recognize it, and asks Addy for a private conversation. He very briefly details what's going on with Katya, and then holds out his hand, with an azure blue prefect badge in his palm.
"I didn't want to give you this because I worried it would just stress you out," Merrill admits. He's been worrying a lot lately about the extra pressure that's on all of the prefects in Azurcrest. "But Katya recommended you as her replacement, and Mr. Elmasry over there vouched for you. He thinks you're up to the job... and I do too, but only if you want it, Addy."