The year is 1988 and Yorktown has just employed the first intern to ever be hired by Arlington County. The hiree, a young Greta Brendley with a newly earned Master’s Degree in Psychology from George Mason University, is ready to start her career as a school psychologist. After interning for a year, she is hired full time.

Twenty-six years later, Brendley is preparing for retirement. She has spent 22 of those 26 years working for Arlington County, with about four years in the middle spent working in Los Angeles for the L.A. Unified School District.

Psychology is a field that certainly requires a particular skillset, both learned and intuitive. Brendley mentioned that she knew she would enjoy her work not only because she loves meeting new people, but also because she enjoys analyzing and solving problems, both of which are of large importance in psychology. However, there are definitely useful skills for the job that cannot be taught in a classroom.

“A lot of it is skills that are not taught in a school, so you either have it naturally or you don’t. That’s a big part of this job, I would say, is things that are not taught in school,” said Brendley. “It is probably that way with most jobs; there are things that are important and that you actually know, but there are other parts that are just either part of your personality or are not.”

As she has worked in high schools most of her career, Brendley deserves to be commemorated for making a difference in the lives of many students.

Brendley felt that the most rewarding part of her work involved helping people and making a difference in the lives of others.

“Seeing people actually use my advice and telling me that it made a difference, that it really helped them, that they appreciated what I said and how I kind of turned things in a better direction for them…that feels really good,” said Brendley.

Another reason why Brendley loves working with high school students is their ability to really see the whole picture of life and not let shortcomings take away their hope for a bright future.

“Most high school students see that, that’s one reason why I like to work at a high school. I feel it’s always still optimistic and hopeful even when things are very difficult, because we know that their life is still ahead and things can change; that right there makes things much more hopeful,” said Brendley.

Brendley loved working both in Los Angeles and in Arlington. She states that working for the L.A. Unified School District was very different, perhaps more intense, due to the fact that many kids in that area were dealing with seriously traumatic events.

“I worked in Watts. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but it’s a really poor area–a lot of riots started there. That’s where Rodney King was beaten up, and I was right there when all that happened and when it went down,” said Brendley.

One thing Brendley especially enjoys about her job is that she learns something new every day. A continuous flow of unique cases and different people ensures that her work is never boring. Her 26 years of experience and lessons learned have also made her a great deal wiser.

“When I look back to how I was when I first started this job and how I am now, I think I’m so much better at understanding people and how they are, how people can take advice, how to work with people better, and so on. When I think back 20 years to when I first started, I was just so young and I thought I knew it all but I really knew nothing,” said Brendley, laughing.

If she could give one piece of advice to her colleagues, Brendley would give patience and understanding.

“Just take a deep breath and have patience,” said Brendley.

Brendley is looking forward to working on her own projects after retiring, but she admits that she will miss the energy and routine of coming to work everyday, as well as the people she encounters.

“I interact with so many people at my job all day long, so I’ll miss that. I know my circle will kind of close in a little bit, the pool of the amount of people that I interact with…it just does when you don’t work. That’ll be different, I’m really gonna miss that actually the more I talk about it. I might have to come volunteer here at Yorktown.” said Brendley.

There is no doubt that she will be welcomed with open arms whenever she returns.