This year, Kyla Seaver became Bellows Free Academy’s newest Behavior Consultant. The position of Behavior Consultant is a new role at BFA, one which not many students are familiar with.

“I work with…everyone in the school just supporting all students…[assisting in] classroom management, and [helping] kids be able to access their learning environment,” Seaver said.

Seaver grew up in Burlington, V.t. right by the University of Vermont’s campus and went to Rice Memorial High School.

“I love [Burlington], I feel very close to it,” Seaver said.

Seaver’s career decisions were heavily influenced by her experience with her younger sister.

“My sister was adopted when she was four, and she couldn’t speak English. So that was huge for us growing up because…I remember how difficult it was. But [it’s interesting] how much you can communicate with someone without needing to use words…I think that has totally framed my career path,” Seaver said.

This led her to pursue a degree in speech pathology at the University of New Hampshire, and later a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction at Arizona State University, where her focus was on communication in the form of applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

“It is a big piece of society, of our world, and it varies for culture, and…I think in order for there to be success in school…we need to have a good flow of communication,” Seaver said.

Before starting her job at BFA, Seaver was actually able to get a taste of BFA while earning her degree.

“During my master’s program, I had to get clinical hours. So, I got a job with a private company and actually did a lot of my hours up here at BFA, and I really liked the school. I really loved the special educators I worked with up here,” Seaver said.

When she saw the new position posted, Seaver dove in and applied.

“[I] was just like, oh, look at this job open up. Cool, like this is a perfect scenario,” Seaver said.

So far, she has been enjoying her stay and is particularly fond of our school spirit.

“The team spirit thing, I think, is huge because that was big for us at Rice…that was a big piece of high school for us…so I love seeing it,” Seaver said.