Father Ryan High School announced one promotion and two new hires that bolster their academic and college counseling departments, according to Jim McIntyre, president.
Casey Cossitt Jones, formerly the Director of College Counseling, is the new Director of Academic Counseling. Christina Williams is the school’s new Director of College Counseling and Adrienne Spraggins is the new Associate Director of College Counseling.
In announcing the appointments, McIntyre commended all three, citing Jones’s strong counseling tenure at the school and both Williams and Spraggins for their diverse skill sets and extensive college admissions experience here in Nashville.
“Casey has been a dedicated and knowledgeable counselor for our students and will bring her dynamic energy to the Academic Counseling role. And Christina and Adrienne bring proven experience into our college counseling offices that will greatly aid the students here at Father Ryan,” said McIntyre. “Their work with the Vanderbilt Admissions teams over the last several years showcase their connection not only to the Nashville community, but to college and high school communities across the country. We’re pleased with what these counselors will provide our families in the coming years.”
Jones, who succeeds John Spore, who is retiring after 43 years at the school, has been the Director of Counseling at Father Ryan since 2012 after serving as college counselor for six years prior. She has expanded the program and the students’ college interests. The class of 2015 submitted over 1100 applications (an average of four per student) to 262 diverse colleges and universities. Members of the class will attend 76 different institutions of higher learning, with 47% attending in-state institutions and 53% attending out-of-state institutions. The class received scholarships totaling over 24 million dollars, averaging $108,000 per graduate.
Jones earned her B.A. from Mississippi State University, summa cum laude, in 2004 and her M. Ed. In Organizational Leadership and Communication in 2012 from Belmont University.
Williams comes to Father Ryan after thirteen years with the Vanderbilt Admissions offices. She has been the Associate Director of Admissions for the Vanderbilt Law School program since 2007, where she managed all aspects of the Admission Interview Program, the Admitted Student Reception Program, and recommended on the admissions decisions of over 1,000 applicants per admissions cycle. Before that, Williams worked in Vanderbilt’s Undergraduate Admissions office for five year.
Prior to her appointment at Vanderbilt, she earned a Master of Arts in Mathematics in 2002, after receiving a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Secondary education in 1997 from Vanderbilt University.
Spraggins also worked in the Vanderbilt Admissions office prior to joining Father Ryan. While at Vanderbilt she served as an Admissions Counselor for the Office of Undergraduate Admissions since 2012. Before that, Spraggins served as Vanderbilt University’s Program Coordinator for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program from 2010-2012. Spraggins has also worked with Lipscomb University,where from 2010-2011 she worked as the Short-Term Travel Course Coordinator for the Office of Global Learning.
Spraggins is a 2011 graduate of Vanderbilt, where she earned her M.Ed. in Higher Education Administration after graduating from the University of Delaware in 2006, where she earned a B.S. in Chemistry. Spraggins lives in Nashville with her husband, a Vanderbilt faculty member.
Father Ryan is a diocesan, co-educational Catholic high school established in 1925 with more than 950 students. More information is available at www.fatherryan.org.
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