National Schools Counseling Week 2016

It was National School Counseling Week February 1st through the 5^th. This is the time when school counselors advocate for their profession. In some schools everyone knows what a school counselor does and recognizes this and in other schools school counselors need to advocate a little or a lot more about their profession. In a time where the Common Core takes over the teacher’s lives and school counselors are taking care of duties that are not counselor duties, I can understand why not everyone in the school takes the time to learn what school counselors do. Of course, this may be just one reason.

I am at a high school so not only are the school counselors working with their grade level of students, we also have other duties.  Other duties include supervision, organizing the school dances and graduation, sending transcripts to colleges, scheduling and an endless amounts of paperwork. My mother was a secretary for a very long time and I appreciate her work more and more everyday.  I don’t know how she did it. In between all of these extra duties, that I did not endure three years of graduate school for, my grade level happens to be the 11^th grade and a third of the 12^th grade.  All grade levels are important but the 11^th and 12^th grades are crucial for college preparation, admissions, and transition.  What keeps me sane is my fellow school counselors.  They provide the best support with helping me with tasks, making me laugh and just listening and understanding my frustrations. They also celebrate with me and inspire me.  As a department we have a lot of accomplishments and as a school counselor I am so grateful to be at the school I’m in with the support of the administrators and teachers and the students that make my job a joy to go to everyday.

Here is what the counseling department did for National School Counseling Week 2016.

Counselor Trivia: Each counselor shared a fact about herself in the Daily Bulletin. The first student to guess the correct counselor won a prize. The students had a fun time guessing.

Counselor Tip: In the Daily Bulletin a counselor tip was shared for the students to read. 

-Self Esteem

-Responsibility

-Academic Success

-Dealing with Rejection

-Recognizing the types of bullying

Desserts for the staff: To kick off the week we had a dessert bar for the teachers to thank them for their support of the counseling department.

Staff Awards: During PLC we awarded teachers who went above and beyond to support the counseling department. The counselors came up with fun awards.  The teachers appreciated them.

What counselor’s do posters: We did not have time to print out the posters so we’ll save them for next year. These posters shared what counselor’s do by the counseling domains: Academic, Career and Personal/Social. We will hang them up around the school. 

It was a lot of fun celebrating this year. Please celebrate your school counselor.  If you’re a school counselor reading this, thank you for all that you do for your school.