As a school counselor, I have always wanted to attend the American School Counselor Association conference. Life occurrences and finances have not
yet provided me the opportunity. I will get there one day! This year’s summer
conference would’ve been a great one. Since I follow ASCA on Facebook I was
able to keep up with the conference happenings, which leads me to some true
self-disclosure. I love school counseling! Pretty sure I have annoyed people
with my love for school counseling, but I believe we need to advocate and I am
doing just that.
I found myself in a passionate moment of professional pride,
watching a video on Facebook from the ASCA this summer. I'm sure some of you might
be thinking it was a video of student success, or a student thanking their school
counselor and those could have probably tugged the heart strings, but no. What took my breath away was the First Lady of
the United States, Michelle Obama, addressing school counselors at the opening
ceremony of the conference.
There were many things she said that received a resounding amen
from this choir girl, but I want to share with you what I believe to be the top three quotes and items of importance
for the school counseling profession.
The first quote is her heart felt appreciation.
“…I want to recognize all of you for everything
you do for our young people every single day. And I have to tell you,
when I found out that you all were making me an honorary school counselor, my
first thought was, there is absolutely no way I’m worthy of this honor.
Because I know that you all have one of the hardest, most stressful, most
important and most underappreciated jobs of anyone in this country -- and I
live with the President of the United States. So frankly, when I think about
what you all do on an average day, well, quite frankly, I’m amazed.”
Watching it at work, I wanted to cheer out loud in chorus with,
the audience. In fact, I watched it again in my own home and did just that. I thought
about all the frustrations as a testing coordinator and the sleepless nights I
had when students were facing tough issues. As a school counselor, you soon
realize that you do have one of the toughest jobs. I really encourage you to
set an action plan for self care, now as the school year begins. Make sure you
surround yourself with mentors and other trusted school counselors, who
understand what your job entails, and lean upon them in those tough times.
In this second quote the
First Lady is referring to the White House and the U.S. Department of Education’s
efforts to address school counseling professional development and student
advisement issues.
“I want to talk with you about my
new initiative…I launched it recently to help all of our children fulfill their
boundless potential. It’s called Reach Higher, and the goal is to inspire
every young person in this country to complete their education beyond high
school.”
Reach Higher is focused on all students completing an education
past high school. There are two words we need to emphasize; all and completing. Career Tech is primed to fulfill this need. As
we continue and strengthen our relationships with HS counselors we need to
include middle school and elementary counselors into the conversation. We have
an opportunity to support them with our professional development opportunities
and promote the importance of Career Tech education and programs. We need to
ask HS, MS and Elementary counselors to serve on our advisory committees and
ask to serve on theirs. We need to make sure we help partner and equip our
school counselors to aide in student career advisement K-12. I encourage you to not only make sure HS
Counselors know about GuidanceFest, but that you also use the afternoon time to
meet with them and collaborate on data driven issues.
The third
quote, I want to share describes the intent to designate and award, at the
White House a School Counselor of the Year.
“My husband and I think that it’s time that we started giving our
school counselors the recognition that you all deserve for the work that you
do. So, as you may know, every year we honor the national Teacher of the
Year at the White House. Well, starting next year, for the first time
ever, we will also hold a White House ceremony honoring the School Counselor of
the Year. Yes. This is a start. It is really a start. The idea
behind these efforts is very simple: We want to celebrate our school
counselors, and we want to highlight what’s working in college counseling
across the country. Because we know that so many of you are already
leading the way.”
Okay this was the moment… I was full on, no hiding it tearing up
and touched! Not that standing up in front of a group of people means we are
doing a better job than what we did yesterday, but it does mean that we are
finally being recognized as professionals. Sometimes all it takes is a “thank you”, “we love and appreciate you”
to keep you going. I know the districts I have worked for in the past, which
celebrated my profession and acknowledged the School Counseling Week in
February, are the ones I would gladly go above and beyond for, and recommend as
an employer for other professional school counselors. That being said, I
encourage you to acknowledge the National School Counseling Week February 2-6, 2015 for your colleagues. Hopefully over the years public awareness within the
educational community will increase and everyone will know and acknowledge
their school counselor of the year and the National School Counseling Week.
The White House awarding the school counselor of the year has
created a platform. Now is the time for us to band together, the stage is
primed for advocacy, to clarify the appropriate roles for school counselors. We
need to be a united front of professionals. Please consider getting involved in
the Oklahoma School Counselor Association and become a part of this new frontier. I follow the American School Counselor Association on Facebook
and it's a great way to keep up with things daily. I implore you to get
involved, we need you!
When time
allows, I really think you too will enjoy watching The First Lady's Speech and
hearing her resolute words.
I guarantee it will inspire you!
Please do not ever hesitate to contact me, Erica Harris if you have questions or suggestions for professional development for school counselors.
Register for GuidanceFest today!
