Years before Paul C. Harris came to Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Education as a faculty member, he began his career at Warwick High School in Newport News, cutting his teeth in the school’s counseling office and getting on-the-ground experience in a real school, surrounded by real students.

Though his time in Newport News didn’t last long – he left after one year to pursue his doctorate – the year he spent there has served as the foundation for his career. It also introduced him to lasting connections, including Krystal Andrews, who was a student when they first met and is now a colleague at VCU.

Harris, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Special Education, and Andrews, Ph.D., director of student success at the School of Education, marked their lasting connection at the university’s recent commencement ceremonies, posing for a photo with another former Warwick student, Isaiah Moore, who earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership, Policy and Justice from the School of Education in May.

Harris commemorated the moment on LinkedIn afterward, remarking that “proud is an understatement.”

“To see former students of mine thriving, that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

Like Harris, Andrews credits her time at Warwick for setting her on her current path. In high school, she studied in the international baccalaureate program, competed as a student-athlete and participated in the school band.

“Like a typical high school student, there were a lot of things happening, a lot of transitions,” Andrews said. “In the early 2000s, nobody was talking about what it means [to support student belonging], and the school counselor office provided me with a lot of support when it came to my student experience.”

Getting to know the members of the counseling office, Andrews was struck by their camaraderie, both as a unit and with the students in the building, and by their dedication to ensuring that students had the resources that they needed.

“I was looking for a way to be connected to people in the building, and our school counselor staff were very critical parts to my development as a student in high school,” she said. “I can say that Paul and the team he worked with in that office played a major role in my development as an educator. They partially influenced why I wanted to go into education.”

When she began pursuing her degrees, Andrews thought at first that she might want to try counseling herself. But she found a different path in higher education, leading her to VCU in 2021.

Harris, who left Warwick to study for his doctorate at the University of Maryland, said that his students, many just five or six years younger than he was at the time, “taught me a lot as well. If anything, it affirmed for me what had always been a passion, which was to illuminate the brilliance that society may not always center. That has always been a cornerstone for my career.”

Following his career transition to higher education, Harris came to VCU in January as an associate professor in the School of Education’s Department of Counseling and Special Education. It was during the application process that he realized Andrews was the student he had known more than 20 years ago.

Getting the chance to work with a former student as a colleague was “a draw,” he said. And now that they’re both at VCU, Harris and Andrews have been glad for the chance to reconnect.

Two decades later, both Harris and Andrews have stayed connected to the community they first met at Warwick, speaking to the impact that counselors and other educators can have on the students they serve.

“My passion for student success and wanting to work with students and help them envision their own success is still greatly tied to what I experienced as a student, which started with high school,” Andrews said.