By: Joseph Nolan ‘20

Mr. Paul Meyfohrt is one of two new faculty members joining Chaminade’s College Placement Team. He attended Floral Park Memorial High School, where he shined on the football and baseball teams. Upon graduating from high school, Mr. Meyfohrt went on to play baseball at Springfield College in Massachusetts. After switching from a pre-med track to studying psychology, he fell in love with counseling. He would go on to receive his M.Ed. in Athletic Counseling and eventually land a job as a college admissions officer.

He later worked at Greenwich High School in Connecticut as a college, career, and guidance counselor for 14 years. After leaving the high school and accepting a position as a general middle school guidance counselor, he realized how much he missed assisting students in the college application process.

“I really missed the college process; I know it, I’m comfortable with it,” he explained. “I basically spent 27 years doing it, between working for admissions and the high school. And what’s better than being able to help the students?”

With regards to college applications, he advised, “Everyone will have somewhere to go. Don’t stress out. If you put the time and effort in and don’t procrastinate, it’s not that big of a deal.”

The second addition to Chaminade’s guidance department, Mr. Jarrett Armstrong ’12 has committed his professional focus to the mental health and special education fields. After receiving his M.Ed. in Mental Health Counseling from Adelphi University, Mr. Armstrong worked at a residential school which housed autistic children between ages 12 and 21.

Reflecting on why he chose to return to Chaminade, Mr. Armstrong said, “When I came here as a student, mainly teachers served as the guidance counselors. Now, especially, there are a lot of mental health issues – and other issues, for that matter – that students are struggling with. With my background, I wanted to come here and provide more help than what was available when I was a student here.”