Sister Margaret "Peg" Casey, director of guidance at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School, was recently named 2004 Counselor of the Year by the Nassau Counselors' Association. For the past 35 years, Sister Peg has been a competent, dedicated, innovative, compassionate, resourceful and vigilant educator.

Sister Peg begins her day with Mass at 7:30 a.m. and can be seen at her desk many afternoons until 4:30 p.m., only to return during the evening or weekends to complete work, begin a new project or review information for the coming week. Her contributions over the years have been impressive and extensive. She is viewed by many as Holy Trinity's matriarch, historian and raconteur. Sister Peg was one of the founders of the Holy Trinity Hall of Fame, which honors prominent individuals who have made a difference in the life of Holy Trinity. She has served as class moderator numerous times and was very actively involved in securing Middle States accreditation for Holy Trinity. Her calm, easygoing demeanor coupled with a strict adherence to details insures that she gets the job done, professionally, efficiently and with a smile.

With her creative mind always working overtime, Sister Peg has kept her department on its toes. She manages to be involved in everything from incoming freshman orientation and registration, to crisis management, to college placement and graduation requirements. She provides help and guidance to the entire staff. Her door is always open. A distraught student knows that he or she can find solace in Sister Peg's office. An upset parent is refreshed after a visit to Sister Peg and a former graduate is elated when Sister Peg remembers his or her name and the year he or she graduated.

A former graduate and current Holy Trinity coach related an interesting anecdote to us. She stated that she placed a telephone call to Sister Peg regarding a player of hers involved in the college search. This particular student was placed on a waiting list for a prestigious college in the Northeast. Sister Peg returned her call within minutes with a total history of the student from ninth to twelfth grade, including honor societies, volunteer work, employment, letters of recommendation, test scores, etc. as well as a name and telephone number of a contact person at the college for her to speak to on the student's behalf. This was not one of Sister Peg's students but nonetheless she was ready and able as usual to provide assistance.

The counseling department runs smoothly because of her keen dedication to management. For example, this year she secured a grant from the school's development fund to create a comprehensive college-planning guide to be distributed to all the parents and students in the junior class during Holy Trinity's evening college program. This guide will also become available to the entire student body through our website thanks to Sister Peg. She also convinced the administration to purchase the COIN online career guidance curriculum program that will be available for use by students, parents and counselors 24 hours a day, seven days a week from their home computers. She has worked tirelessly to create a newly designed school profile, which will accompany the college applications from Holy Trinity to the colleges. It was at her suggestion that special envelopes bearing the school insignia, creating a very impressive presentation, be used to mail out the applications. In addition, Sister Peg volunteered to work with a counseling intern from C.W. Post this year, to help complete her preparation for this profession.

Sometimes people stand out because of their personality, or their intelligence, or their determination, or their humanitarian efforts. Sister Peg stands out because of all of these. She is a leader, an innovator, a friend, a colleague, an outstanding school counselor and a most deserving recipient of the Nassau Counselors' Association Counselor of the Year Award.