NYS CERTIFIED
MANDARIN-SPEAKING
SCHOOL
COUNSELOR
Joe Maher
ABOUT
ABOUT ME
Hi! I’m Joe, a Pomona College and Hunter College School of Education graduate currently working as a College Counselor at Uncommon Leadership Charter High School (ULC), a public unscreened charter school in Brooklyn, New York. I grew up in Westchester County, went to college in California, studied and lived in China and Hawaii, and I currently live in Brooklyn. I am fluent in Mandarin Chinese and am a NYS certified School Counselor working for Uncommon Schools.
WHAT I'VE DONE
Long before I started at Uncommon, I began my career in education as a classroom teacher in Shenzhen, China, where I taught over 200 students of all grades and abilities in a K-12 school. This led to my job as College Counselor, promotion to manager, and finally my role as an external consultant for Due West Education in Beijing, where I helped students gain admission to Ivy League and other elite American universities. While getting my MS Ed. at Hunter College, I interned at the HS for Math, Science and Engineering, a public magnet high school in Manhattan.
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WHAT I DO
I began working for the Uncommon network at North Star Academy in Downtown Newark, leading eight college readiness workshops per week and counselling over 80 students and their families as part of the college team. I also acted as team lead on Quest Bridge and other scholarship programs, parent financial aid workshops, multicultural fly-in programs, data tracking, and the senior video. I joined ULC in 2020 and have helped guide our first graduating class through the application process and built relationships between our school and colleges across the country.
PORTFOLIO
&
COUNSELING PHILOSOPHY
PERSON-CENTERED
The best predictor of a student's willingness and ability to change is the rapport they build with the counselor. By being authentic, curious, and honest with students, I am able to build a close working relationship to try to understand the world they’re coming from as we work together on a plan to move forward.
MULTICULTURAL
New York is one of the most diverse cities in the world, yet our schools and neighborhoods remain segregated by policy, and inequity within the system is rampant. I work with students to understand the contexts and constructs that inform their individual lives, including gender, race, culture, ability, and sexuality, and to help them use that knowledge to empower themselves. I also work to make sure I’m always looking for blind spots and biases in my own experience, and that I stay humble and curious.
SOLUTION FOCUSED
I use what works. School counselors are busy, with many people and responsibilities competing for our time. The well-being of all of our students is our number one priority, and that is why I use effective evidence-based methods that draw from student’s strengths and resources without requiring overly lengthy interventions.