University Counselling

Luke Lawson, Co-Director of University Counselling

Luke Lawson has been counselling students on university admissions and related matters for over twenty years. He is extremely knowledgeable on admissions and current trends in post-secondary guidance. He takes great pride in helping students work through the application process, from researching potential schools to finally choosing their university destination. Luke keeps up-to-date on university matters by attending various local, national and international fairs and conferences. He has also built up an extensive network of contacts.

In addition, Luke is a former IBDP and CAS Coordinator at Mulgrave School and the Halifax Grammar School. He coordinated the IBDP application for both schools and is currently a senior examiner for IB Economics

Holding Masters degrees in History and Education, Luke also teaches IBDP Economics.

Leah Verdone, Co-Director of University Counselling

Leah brings a decade of experience in university counselling, teaching English and Social Studies at both the high school and university level, and administration roles to her position. She possesses a passion for politics, economics, and education as they directly pertain to the post-graduation world students will enter. She is dedicated to utilizing the mentorship implicit in the role of University Counsellor to nurture greater independence, introspection, leadership, and resourcefulness necessary for students to excel and achieve their goals while maintaining balance and finding happiness throughout their tenure at Mulgrave.

Born in northern Ontario, Leah is a transplant to the BC coast, earning her Bachelor of Arts with a double major English and History from the University of Victoria and her PDPP in Secondary Education. She studied for an Master in Education in Leadership at Vancouver Island University. As a lifelong learner, she is currently working on a graduate Certificate in College Counselling from UCLA as a means of enriching her knowledge of US college admissions to better serve students applying to the US; additionally, the program inculcates the most progressive best practices throughout the industry while developing networking connections with US institutions and international educators.

Scott Atherton, University and Careers Guidance Counsellor

Scott brings to Mulgrave experience on both the university admissions as well as the high school counselling sides of the desk. From 2008-2014, he served an an admissions officer at Middlebury College in Vermont, USA, handling all facets of both international and USA domestic admissions. Scott then moved overseas and took a position as a high school guidance counsellor at the Canadian International School of Hong Kong (CDNIS) doing both university and pastoral counselling, a position he held for five years (2014-2019). Scott believes strongly in the philosophy of "best fit" regarding university exploration and placement, and is dedicated to getting to know his students and their families to help make the university admissions process as positive and successful as possible for all involved. The father of two who he has seen through the university admissions experience, Scott has an understanding of the process from both the parent and counsellor perspective. 

Prior to his work at Middlebury, Scott held a variety of other positions, including as a program officer at the Salzburg Global Seminar (Vermont and Salzburg, Austria), the Addison County Community Trust (Middlebury, Vermont), and serving as a radio announcer on Vermont Public Radio (VPR), among others. Born and raised in Maine in the US, Scott earned a BA in anthropology from Harvard University, and spent most of his adult life in Middlebury, Vermont before moving abroad.