The intertwined community of GUSD is filled with familiar and friendly alumni, parents, and teachers who give students the opportunities they need to grow. Dr. Anet Hairapetian, both a GUSD graduate and parent, is thrilled to continue being a part of this community as Clark welcomes her as the new assistant principal.
Dr. Hairapetian was born and raised in Iran, but moved with her family to Greece for one short year, and then to Texas for three years. She finally settled in California, where she graduated from Glendale High School, and continued pursuing her education and career path here.
Her passion has always laid in helping those around her, especially students. “When I was in highschool, I was always the most mature out of my friends. A lot of kids came to me for advice, so I knew I wanted to go into counseling or therapy, but I wasn’t 100 percent sure,” Dr. Hairapetian said.
After getting her bachelor’s for psychology from UCLA, she went on to receive her master’s in school counseling from the University of La Verne, and finally got her doctorate in educational leadership from USC. She also began moving towards her goal of being a counselor between receiving her master’s and doctorate by working as a school teacher. Eventually, Dr. Hairapetian went from teaching middle schoolers at Rosemont to working as a school counselor at Crescenta Valley High School, where she was for 13 years.
The shift into a new administrative position has had its learning curve, despite coming from a school with almost twice the student population of Clark. However, she has been looking forward to coming to Clark, and greatly enjoys the smaller campus and close-knit community. “When you have only 44 teachers versus over 100, it’s a lot more intimate,” Hairapetian said. “My goal was to land in Clark, so I was so surprised when I learned I was coming here and I am loving it.”
She’s been married to her husband for almost twenty years, who graduated from CVHS and both her son and daughter are GUSD graduates.
Dr. Hairapetian hopes to continue to uphold Clark’s reputation in the district. The role of an administrator is not always easy, but hopefully the Clark community is able to see how excited Dr. Hairapetian is to be here to work with students and staff to continue to help Clark shine.
