Upper School Dean Tamar Adegbile will not return to school next year, she announced Jan. 7 in emails to students and parents. Adegbile will become the Director of College Counseling at the Cate School near Santa Barbara.

Adegbile also served as Black Awareness and Culture club adviser, Film Festival judge, Prefect Council adviser and Honor Board member.

She expressed her appreciation for her time at Harvard-Westlake both at a junior class meeting and in her emails.

“Though I will be very sad to leave this community, I’m excited about what lies ahead,” Adegbile wrote in her email to parents. “I believe this will be a wonderful opportunity for me and for my family.”

She also emphasized that she will continue to work with her current juniors throughout the college application process and will help work with her replacement to ensure a seamless transition.

Upper School Dean Beth Slattery said that Adegbile will be missed, both personally and professionally.

“For me, the hardest part of this is that she’s one of my best friends in the world, and I can’t imagine this place without her,” Slattery said. “I also feel like, from a professional standpoint, she was just this incredible combination of someone who was wonderful with students, great with faculty, great with parents. She was compassionate but also pragmatic at the same time, and [that’s] a really unusual combination, so I don’t know how we’ll replace her.”

Adegbile said she feels grateful for the students who made her experience special.

“I moved 3,000 miles to come to Harvard-Westlake, and I can honestly say that I have never once regretted that decision,” Adegbile wrote in a letter to seniors. “This is indeed a very special place. I feel fortunate, blessed even, to have had the chance to work with such incredible students like all of you.”