From Fredericksburg, to Charlottesville, to Woodbridge, Mrs. Todd has always made it a priority to help other people. Todd grew up in the Fredericksburg area and then attended college at Randolph-Macon. After receiving her undergraduate degree at Randolph Macon, she received her graduate education at the University of Virginia. This is Todd’s first year at Colonial Forge, but her third year of being a counselor.

Todd’s Path To Success

Todd did not always have plans of becoming a school counselor; at first she wanted to be a nurse.

“I wanted to help people, and I felt like it was a very easy connection between the two,” Todd said. “I got to college and hated biology. It was the worst thing I’ve ever done. I realized, well if you can’t do biology, you need to find something else, so I struggled with life for a month until I changed my major.”

She then reevaluated what she wanted to do in the future and came to the conclusion that she wanted to go the psychology route.  

“I didn’t know what career I wanted still. Then, through that major and in finding what careers were available in that field,” Todd said, “I realized I loved the school setting. ”

An important step of confirming that this was the career for her was through an internship.

“Then, during my senior year of college, I did a month long internship at an elementary school. I fell absolute in love with it, but then throughout grad school I decided that high school was the better fit for me, because I like to have frank conversations, and sometimes with little ones you have to be very careful about what you say,” Todd said.  

Todd’s Interests and Hobbies

The activities that Todd loves doing the most are reading, watching television, and playing video games.

“I feel like when I finish one book or one book series I’m finding three more that I want to add to my list, so it never ends,” Todd said. “My husband and I play video games together. Right now we are playing Kingdom Hearts, just because we bought the pack that has all 9 games in it, so we’re going through those, it’s exhausting. Shows that I like to watch are medical dramas, [such as] Grey’s Anatomy, I’ve been watching that since it came out.”

Todd also enjoy watching HGTV [Home and Garden Television].

“I find it so bizarrely intriguing to look into someone else’s house. I know that it’s super weird and creepy to be like ‘Oh I want to see your house,’ but I used to, a very long time ago want to be a realtor because I love the idea of the housing market and helping people find their home,” Todd said. “Again, helping people out is always my motivation.”

Todd’s Thoughts on Colonial Forge

Todd believes that Forge is a much better fit for her than her past school.

“At my last school, I did not feel like it was my fit. It was a very small town, everyone knew everyone, and I didn’t live in that town, so events and things were very big and I was always like, ‘Well I got to go home because I have an hour drive.’ I did not feel a part of that community, as I feel like I do here,” Todd says. “I like how welcoming and accepting, in general just friendly everyone is here, and though people were definitely friendly at my last school, I always felt like an outsider. When I am here, especially considering that I don’t live that far now, I feel more at home here.”

Todd’s Most Enjoyable Part of Her Career

Todd’s main priority is making sure that she is there for her students.

“That is the only thing I care about. If things don’t always get done on time, fine, that’s what it is. But I want to be there for my students,” Todd said. “So being accessible and getting people what they need, whatever that is and not taking too long, always being timely, those things are very important to me.”

Through speaking with her students she gets to know each of their interests and goals.

“Where you live has a huge impact on your interests, and who you are, and things that you end up prioritizing. I never had as many students at my last school who were interested in government jobs because they were so far away from D.C. that they were more interested in agricultural jobs for the most part,” Todd said. “Getting to know this brand new student population is very important.”

Todd’s Dream Career

Todd’s dream job would be a professional novel editor.

“If it didn’t require me moving, I would be a professional novel editor and I would work for a big publishing house because English was my minor in college, and I love it,” Todd said. “I edit my husband’s papers, I always edited my friends papers in college. Mostly just for grammatical errors. I feel like I am very good at that and I feel like I am very well spoken and well written, especially in terms of noticing details, so a trait that would be needed if you were an editor is you would have to be able to keep up with continuity and make sure things are making sense.”

Todd’s Greatest Fears

Todd’s fears include sharks and open water.

“If you’re ten years old, don’t watch Jaws. Someday if you have children, don’t watch Jaws with your children, just don’t because that stuff stays with you for a very long time,” Todd said. “My fears are open water, especially in regards to lakes, rivers, oceans. I will go in a chlorinated pool that I can see my feet in, as long as I can see what’s under me. Fish freak me out, I’m not necessarily scared of fish, but I am totally freaked out by them, and if one touched my leg I think I would just die of the ick factor.”

Todd’s Dream Travel Destination

Todd and her husband will be going to New Zealand for their honeymoon.

“We are going in April for our honeymoon and I am like buzzing! Every time I think about it I am just like obsessed. That has been something that we have wanted to do for a long time,” Todd said. “We are huge Lord of the Rings fans, so we are all up in it. We are doing all kinds of Lord of the Rings tours which are going to be so much fun. We are balancing it though, we are probably doing three or four tours of that nature and then we have some more scenic tours built in, so it is not totally geeky, but you know close.”