Prior to starting at CIP Berkshire in 2025, Cassie worked in the field of education for over 10 years across a variety of K-12 settings and roles. Her teacher persona developed over time and regularly features holiday headbands, corny puns, and random singing/dancing, which Cassie is delighted to find can elicit the same groans and eye rolls from her students across the board, regardless of setting. Cassie’s past school-based roles have included: assisting with academic and behavioral needs in public middle school and special education high school classrooms, interning with school social workers and adjustment counselors, and providing individual therapy, family therapy, and group counseling sessions to students receiving treatment in therapeutic residential and day schools.
Through her earliest experiences working with high-needs populations in under-resourced public schools, Cassie realized her primary professional passion of wanting to support students as whole people (instead of just focusing on their standardized test scores). This drive led her to earn a master’s in social work with a specialization in School Adjustment Counseling from Salem State University in Salem MA in 2020. In addition to being a Salem State Viking, she is also a proud Red Fox after earning a bachelor’s in English Literature from Marist College in Poughkeepsie NY in 2012.
Cassie’s favorite parts of any previous job have always been the infrequent unstructured times (such as when monitoring lunch or after finishing a lesson early) that fostered socialization. She loved those brief moments to build and strengthen connections with her students, allow them to drive the conversation and activity, and learn about (and sometimes challenge) their perspectives. Young people have valuable viewpoints, interesting experiences, and unlimited potential; and Cassie is eager to connect with CIP Berkshire students as their Social Skills Coordinator.
When she’s not at CIP, you can find Cassie working up a sweat at Zumba or barre exercise classes, doing karaoke, tearing it up at a trivia night, or practicing with her choir. A few of her other favorite things include: Indian food, unicorns, ice cream, beach days, cats, riddles, and the Sims.
