After 18 years of advising students, college counselor Patricia Fels will step down from her duties next year, and English teacher Jane Bauman will become the new college counselor.

Fels’s decision was based on the additional stress of the job this year. A large number of students applied either early decision or early action, she said. Many of these early applications were due by Nov. 1.

“This year was very hard for me,” Fels said. “I was very stressed in September, October and November trying to get everything done.”

Fels decided she needed more time for her life.

Counseling wasn’t her favorite part of the job—she prefers to teach English and advise the Octagon—and she needed to make a change, Fels said.

“The job is more time demanding since parents are more involved with the process along with the students,” she said.

When told of Fels’s decision, headmaster Stephen Repsher, Sue Nellis, head of high school, and assistant college counselor Brooke Wells chose Bauman to fill the position.

Before teaching at Country Day, Bauman was an admissions officer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, for eight years, specializing in the admission of international students.

“I like administrative tasks and organizing,” Bauman said. “(The college-counseling job) seemed like the perfect complement to teaching.”

She hopes to change the way college counseling is done by having checklists and dates on the school’s website and a link to a college-counseling homepage on the Friday email. She wants to have a little more presence on the school’s website.

“I’d like to see if I could use technology to improve communication with parents and students to help them navigate the maze of college application,” Bauman said.

Even though Fels will not be a central figure in the application process, she will still advise Bauman next year.

Additionally, Fels will teach all junior English classes—instead of AP only—and will continue to advise the Octagon.