Registrar Deana Thom loves to meet and help new students

Mill Valley News: What is your job at Mill Valley? 

Deana Thom: I’m the registrar

MVN: And what does that entail? 

DT: Most people don’t have a clue what a registrar is. A registrar is the person who is in charge of all student records, incoming, outgoing and everything in between. So your grades, your test scores, your schedule, your discipline, your attendance, your anything. I’m in charge of student records, then I also help with testing, I do everything, graduation, and a lot in between.

MVN: Where did you grow up? 

DT: I grew up in Shawnee. 

I went to Shawnee Mission Northwest High School. 

MVN: Where did you go to college? 

DT: Johnson County Community College 

MVN: What are your hobbies and what do you do in your free time? 

DT: I have a very large family who is very close, we spend a lot of time with family and we’re very outdoors people. We ride four-wheelers, we fish and hunt and we have a couple of farms. We do everything outdoors. 

MVN: Do they all live around here? 

DT: They do, I’m very lucky. We are within about an hour of each other, so we can all be together. 

MVN: What made you come to Mill Valley?

DT: I was a stay-at-home mom and I went to work as a Para at elementary schools. I started at Woodsonia Elementary, which is no longer there. Walmart is there now. And then I spent a year at Clear Creek Elementary when it opened. And then when Mill Valley was built, Dr. Joe Novak, who was the first principal here, was getting his staff together, and he approached me and wanted to know if I would like to move from elementary to high school. And so I ended up at Mill Valley and I’ve been here since day one. 

MVN: What makes your job important at Mill Valley? 

DT: Records,  It’s a lot. This week, we have enrolled two already, and we have three more new students coming. So it’s getting their paperwork, getting their records, and getting it all transferred.

MVN: What’s your favorite thing about your job? 

DT: The diversity of my job, it’s never dull. It’s always changing. And I get to work with kids and I just love that. MVN: What is your favorite thing about Mill Valley? 

DT: I just think we have good staff, and we have great kids, and that’s what keeps me going, we have great kids here and it’s fun.

MVN: Yeah, totally understand. It’s actually a pretty good school. It is pretty good. 

DT: I think so. I mean, everybody, you know, everyone. We all nitpick, but overall, we have a good school. We have good stuff. We have good kids. 

MVN: What item on your desk is important to you? 

DT: Well, it’s more than one, but it is my photos of my family. I would not survive a day [without it] because they put me in this cave. And, as I said, I’m a very outdoors person, and I call it my cave because you notice that the lovely walls are this lovely color, no windows. It’s small and so it’s my family. It’s my pictures that keep me going. 

MVN: What else should students know about you? 

DT: Usually students don’t even know that I exist until their junior or senior year when they start thinking about college and transcripts and GPAs and things like that. I am so hidden in here, people don’t know who I am but I would love to be able to meet younger kids and get to know them so that I can help them with the importance of keeping your grades up because as you get to be a senior, I am your person for college apps and transcripts and scholarship stuff, things like that and things that freak you out because it’s overwhelming.