New registrar Maria Aliaga, joined WJ following the COVID-19 related death of former registrar Clara Matos.

Aliaga started her career in administration in Houston, Texas, and has since come a long way to Maryland.

“I was the counseling secretary at Watkins Middle High School (Houston, Texas),” Aliaga said.

In her first two weeks, Aliaga has already been able to acclimate to the WJ community and get to know the school.

”Wonderful, everyone has been really nice, very supportive and I even got my new chair today. I have everything that I need and everyone is so helpful to get whatever I need,” Aliaga said.

Aliaga has already found a couple of things about WJ which stand out to her.

“The school. It’s so big and I love my office because it has windows and I can see the students, who can also see me and they can ask for help. My door is always open for them,” Aliaga said.

Registrars are very important to help the school run smoothly, and Aliaga believes that even some of the most mundane parts of her job can be very important.

“My main thing is to maintain all the student records and organize them. Sometimes a little piece of paper that is not important to you can be important later on when they have meetings on the student. They really need that little piece of paper that is in the file, to me that is really important,” Aliaga said.