How do you feel the presence of a counselor positively impacts a school?
School counselors help schools in two important ways. By meeting with students individually, counselors help them find solutions to the challenges and problems they may be facing either in or out of the classroom. But counselors also provide important activities to classes and other large groups. These activities help students develop healthy attitudes and lifestyles that keep problems at bay to begin with.
Why do you think programs that make social workers and counselors available to students are important?
These programs give students the opportunity to understand more about themselves, how they see the world and how they feel about themselves. They also remind students that they aren’t helpless or alone in this world. They can create the changes students might need to turn a situation around. A good deal of counseling involves making students aware of situations that, with the right response, can be prevented from turning into difficult situations.
A good example of this is bullying. Counselors often provide classroom lessons on bullying that show students how to respond to situations where they’re being bullied — they show students how to communicate more effectively so they don’t have to resort to bullying behavior in the first place. By providing students with more effective listening and communication skills, the entire school climate can change to one of greater acceptance and understanding.
Another example is the challenge between students and teachers, which are usually the result of misunderstanding or poor communication. By working with students on effective communication skills — like repeating what they’ve heard the teacher say or taking notes to make sure the student understands expectations — misunderstandings are avoided and teachers and students can build more effective relationships.
How can a student's community play a role in learning? What community resources do you utilize?
It’s important for students to understand how they can give and receive from the community. This is why community service is so important. It shows students how they can make a positive impact on their community by helping others, the same way other community members can help them in times of need, like preparing for college and careers.
We use community resources like tutors, employers and other educators to provide students with learning experiences, internships, job shadowing, research opportunities and more.
How does a student’s community, whether it’s an urban or rural setting, impact the education experience?
The community is really a larger classroom, where students can apply the ideas they learn in schools and put them into practice in real life. The community is also a place where students can take their experiences of living, playing and working back into the classroom, and bring the new ideas they learn to life in new and practical ways.
In what ways specifically have you seen your school’s community impact students’ educational experiences?
Our community provides students with all kinds of learning opportunities, including internships and volunteer opportunities that are part of our Senior May program. This program allows our seniors to spend three weeks in an internship, job-shadowing program or volunteer activity, where they learn what it’s like to enter the world of work or volunteerism on a full-time basis. This is some of the best kind of learning there is!