Feature Illustration image by Angel Rodriguez
Don’t you wish you had someone in your corner? Someone to help you, while not enabling your usual behaviors and telling you, “Keep it up!” Someone who will be real with you. Someone to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear.
That’s exactly what Christina Paolucci does for students as an Academic Success Coach (ASC) at Montclair State University. An ASC is meant to build a strong relationship with their students. They help them reach their academic potential and goals while coaching them on good behaviors and habits to focus on.
Paolucci (far right) overseeing her Ballet students practice. Photo by Alysa Toledo
Coaching is just one part of what Paolucci brings to Montclair State. She also serves as an adjunct instructor in Ballet and Pointe dance technique and works as the Admissions Coordinator for Dance in the Department of Theater and Dance.
Originally from Boston, Paolucci moved to New York at 18 to attend the prestigious Juilliard School of the Arts. Beginning at age six, she has spent over 45 years immersed in her passion, performing in 49 states and dedicating most of her life to the arts.
After graduating in 1995, in a class of less than 20, her talents brought her to other roles, such as Executive Director and Associate Artistic Director of the New York Theater Ballet, before she found a home at Montclair State.
She has even dipped her toes in the world of film, working on the set of the 2000 film “Center Stage” and the Oscar-nominated documentary “Lift” (2022) as a dance coordinator. Whether on stage, in a classroom, or in a Zoom coaching meeting, her grounded and encouraging approach stays consistent.
“In coaching, the most important thing, for me, is encouragement,” Paolucci said. “Students can be really hard on themselves. If they’re trying their absolute best and they do just one thing in the right direction, I want them to know that.”
Senior sports communication major Collin Berg has been coached by Paolucci for the past two years.
“She’s a really nice person,” he said. “She’s very approachable, somebody, you know, I can go to.”
Collin Berg, senior and sports communication major. He has been coached by Paolucci for the past two years. Photo by Alysa Toledo
Paolucci helps her students in a number of different ways.
“When I’m stressed, or just have so many different questions,” Paolucci said, “she’s someone I talk to. I would definitely recommend her as a coach.”
Her lasting impression and the impact she has on those around her have followed state to state.
Rebecca Seow is a former Montclair dance student and the current secretary in the dance department. She began her almost 20-year friendship with Paolucci in a New York dance class. From being student and teacher, to now co-workers, Seow is just another example of a person whose journey was impacted by Paolucci.
“When I first met Christina,” Seow said, “I was the youngest in our class. I had kinda skipped a level and I was just really nervous. She pulled me to the side and she told me, ‘This is my first time meeting everyone in the class too. Don’t worry about it.’ And she just reassured me that it was going to be fine. […] I always remembered that.”
Rebecca Seow in the main dance studio at Life Hall. Seow is a former Montclair State dance student and the current secretary in the dance. Photo by Alysa Toledo
Paolucci brings more than expertise to the table. She brings empathy, honesty and genuine commitment to helping others succeed. As Seow puts it, “She has this motherly energy. She really cares about people, and she carries herself like that with everyone.”
