As I stepped into the office of one of Mendham’s most recent hires, I was immediately disarmed. The room had been completely transformed; the once glaring fluorescent overhead lights had been turned off, replaced with cozy lamps that cast a welcoming, golden glow across the room, and various geeky decorations adorned the walls. I even had to take extra care not to crush the Squishmallows positioned on chairs around the office. According to Sam Gosling, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, the rooms and spaces we inhabit mirror our personalities and subconscious; a principle that, throughout my conversation with Mr. Sheerin, is certainly true.
This school year will be Mr. Sheerin’s fifth year acting as a school counselor. He worked previously as a special education teacher until he had an epiphany while coaching competitive swim: “I enjoyed, essentially, giving advice. An ear for them to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on, and then, combining the working in a school setting, I realized, ‘Oh, this is where I want to go.’” Before coming to Mendham, he had worked in the Linden, Princeton, and Summit school districts.
When asked about one piece of advice he wished to impart to his students, Mr. Sheerin answered almost immediately: “Don’t be afraid to fail, because you learn more from failure than you do from pure success. Because if we all succeeded all the time, we wouldn’t have learned anything. The counselor is always here, but they’re here to help after the failure or during it, right? The student’s not going to learn if they don’t make small mistakes to even bigger mistakes, because eventually they won’t have a safety net, so they’ll learn the skills to overcome or fight through the failure because of the safety nets that they had.” He laughed this off, then gave me a small, wry smile before adding, “That was pretty deep for our first conversation.”
Outside of school, Mr. Sheerin has a couple of hobbies. Not only does he enjoy photography, swimming (he previously swam competitively), and Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building”, but he is also deeply into music; his favorite bands being the Beatles and Oasis, the latter of which he had the pleasure of seeing live in concert a couple of weeks ago.
Towards the end of our conversation, I asked Mr. Sheerin to describe himself using one word. He paused, giving it some thought before answering: “Ecclectic.” When asked why he chose this word specifically, he gave me an explanation for the distinctive decor of his office. “I’m conventional as a counselor, but eclectic in the way that I try to connect with students. Because, right, I have 100 plus students with 100 plus different personalities, so I try to meet them all at their place.”
It has been a tumultuous three years for some Mendham students and their counselor relationships, and for many, like me, it has felt like an endless revolving door. First, it was Mr. Jeros, then Ms. Baxter, and now Mr. Sheerin. After my conversation with Mendham’s newest and friendliest addition, it seems the third time will be the charm.
