Nansemond-Suffolk Academy Head of School Deborah B. Russell has announced the appointment of Rebecca Steigenga as the school’s new director of admissions.

Since 2010, Steigenga has served as upper school counselor at NSA. She was promoted to assistant head of the upper school last year and also served as interim head of the upper school while NSA recruited new leadership for that division.

In those roles, Steigenga has been involved with the admissions selection committee, interviewing international students, reviewing new student applications and academic transcripts, administering placement testing, making recommendations for admission and counseling upper school families through the enrollment process.

Prior to her arrival at NSA, Steigenga served as school counselor for The Williams School in Norfolk and for the Wake County Public School System in Raleigh, N.C.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education and psychology and her master’s in school counseling from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“I join an extremely strong and talented team in the office of admissions and look forward to working side by side with them to grow our NSA family,” Steigenga said.

“The search for a new director of admissions attracted a highly qualified pool of candidates. However Rebecca’s professionalism and academic leadership experience, coupled with her keen knowledge of NSA academic programs, makes her an excellent choice to lead our office of admissions,” NSA Head of School Debbie Russell stated in a press release announcing the appointment.

Once a new upper school counselor has been recruited, Steigenga will fully assume her new role as director of admissions.

Steigenga and her husband, Nate, live in Suffolk, and their daughter, Emma, is a lower school student at NSA.