School Counselor – One Female's Perspective
She had an early career focus (law) but while participating in an unrelated activity (counseling younger students), she began to have ‘second thoughts’ about her first career path. Proceeding cautiously but actively exploring a new path – rather than doing nothing while only worrying about what to do – she engaged in ‘critical thinking’ to help her make a final career-path decision.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
“NW” is the oldest of three children, including a sister and a younger brother. Her parents were ‘high school sweethearts’ before pursuing their respective careers: her father as a police officer, her mother as a registered nurse, later as a hospital administrator.
Neither parent provided a direct career recommendation for NW, though her mother tried to ‘gently’ encourage NW toward a career in healthcare. Mom never pushed and NW never ‘took the bait.’
CHILDHOOD
Typical of many others, NW’s earliest thought of an adult career was to model herself after a middle school (Spanish) teacher but by high school, NW changed her career focus to becoming a lawyer.
EDUCATION
Following high school graduation and college enrollment, NW focused her studies on law school. During one summer break, she enrolled in a three-week ‘law school boot camp’ program. NW enjoyed this brief experience plus meeting new friends as possible, future law school classmates but the legal matters studied (contracts, property rights, estates, torts and criminal law) provided no ‘spark’ to increase her interest for the legal profession.
Meanwhile during her college academic years, NW volunteered when not in class or studying, to participate in interesting nonacademic activities, such talking to students at a local YMCA to share and inform about her college experiences.
The process of speaking with teenagers, trying to help their understanding of future possibilities began to awaken a realization within NW that she would enjoy changing her career focus from law to education.
COMMENCING THE ‘CRITICAL THINKING’ PROCESS
Editor: The process of challenging your own beliefs with further investigation of credible facts – even if it means accepting new information which contradicts your earlier beliefs – is known as ‘critical thinking.’
Not wanting to make a ‘snap’ decision to change her career focus entirely, NW took a few cautious steps toward another career direction to test her resolve. She first tried part-time tutoring, then became a mentor to several students. The more she worked with younger students, the more she enjoyed that activity. While she hoped she had motivated the students in some way, she was clearly inspired toward education by at least trying to help others.
By NW’s senior year in college, she had mixed feelings about her goals: pursuing law would mean three more years in law school classrooms; pursuing education could mean eventually having to manage a classroom of teenagers. Since NW was now leaning toward education, perhaps there was a modified path, still in that direction? Thinking further, NW concluded that the perfect path for her career would be in education to guide students without having to manage a classroom: as a school counselor.
Accordingly, NW switcher her college ‘major’ from law, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in African-American studies.
GAP YEAR MAY TEST IF YOU’RE ON THE BEST CAREER PATH FOR YOU
Whether to proceed with education beyond college involves several important considerations:
- More tuition payments; and
- More time in classrooms means less time to earn money to support yourself; and
- Does your view of the positives in your career path outweigh the negatives of further education expense and classroom time?
To answer the third consideration, NW continued her ‘critical thinking’ process by taking a year away from formal education – a “Gap Year” to be employed by a nonprofit, education-related business: City Year, where she ‘wore many hats’ (engaged in different activities) as a “Success Coach” to help students stay on task, instruct small groups and help to plan initiatives to increase timely school attendance.
PURSUING MORE EDUCATION AFTER COLLEGE – TIME AND EXPENSE ISSUES
Now having gained varied educational experience, NW was finally comfortable to pursue her chosen path as a school counselor – requiring, as noted, more expense and more classroom time. How to afford the expense and where to enroll?
There is a school to fit every student – you just have to find it
NW thoroughly researched local (less expensive to live at home) Master’s degree programs with affordable tuition (helped by student loans) and an accredited degree offered in the subject matter required to pursue the student’s chosen career path.
A home area school offering a two-year Master’s in Education program with summers away from classroom studies to provide time to find – by yourself – field intern experiences, was a perfect choice by NW.
Earning While Learning
NW found employment at a different nonprofit organization, serving as a case manager for a GED program. (GED is an acronym for General Education Degree – for students who have not – for many different reasons – graduated from high school in the usual, consecutive four-year process.) Among the program’s students hoping to earn their GED were former ‘law offenders’, some of whom had been in prison.
PERSISTENCE AND MORE PERSISTENCE!
Anyone who has critically thought about their future career is unlikely to be dissuaded by a few – perhaps many – rejections while trying to march ahead on their career path. Such was NW’s experience and personal motivation.
About to graduate with her Master’s degree, NW prepared her resume of education, experience and full-time career opportunity sought, which she forwarded to multiple school administration employers, assuming she would receive at least one invitation to a personal interview. However, NW received either a response with no interview offer or no response at all.
By now, the nonprofit’s financial grant enabling her employment had expired. So, NW found work in retail sales. Coincidentally, NW had met an older person involved in education, who became NW’s informal mentor, who would soon be taking a four-month maternity leave. The mentor recommended NW to fill in for her as a long-term substitute.
While NW continued to distribute her resume with the same results, one day while hanging out with a friend on a Saturday, they encountered other friends from college, who mentioned their work at a local charter school. NW mentioned casually, as she did whenever the slightest possibility of a job in her chosen path might be theoretically possible, to let her know if their school ever needed a counselor. After this brief episode of socializing had concluded, NW left with no expectation of ever hearing about a job opening from anyone within that small social group.
Two days later – on Monday – NW received a call from the charter school in need of a school counselor! NW was promptly interviewed and offered the open position, which became NW’s first full-time employment as a school counselor. This opportunity lasted for two years, when the school lost its charter.
Now with actual experience to add to her resume, NW promptly found a new opportunity at a different school: as a counselor for grades 7 and 8. She continued in this position for four years, enjoying the experience but now realizing that she preferred counseling high school age students.
With a more complete resume, NW was promptly hired by a public high school as one of six school counselors, where she continues to appreciate the opportunities to counsel students.
Editor’s note – This Career Stories Library defines ‘Luck’ as ‘preparation and experience meet opportunity.” Some might view NW’s career journey as depending on ‘Luck’ – as when a mentor needs someone to take over temporarily and when a casual remark to a social friend leads to an interview two days later. But note that NW’s dedication to wisely helping students was observed by her mentor and when NW had the requisite resume to be hired anywhere, in both situations, NW had the necessary preparation or experience to take advantage of the opportunity presented. NW was not merely lucky; she had earned the right to be hired in each situation. It was not luck, but preparation meeting opportunity.
TYPICAL DAY FOR A SCHOOL COUNSELOR
NW arrives at school by 7:30 a.m., ready to tackle the “to do” list she had created for herself the previous day – it might involve scheduling a meeting with a student or attending a meeting with fellow counselors. However, there is an old adage: “The only constant is change” which, when applied to a school counselor’s day means that at any moment, a student might walk in without an appointment – which is encouraged as needed – or a significant challenge might arise, requiring a total resetting of the counselor’s priorities. In the words of NW: “Sometimes I control the day; sometimes the day controls me.”
Scheduled meetings other than with students, include on-going (“standing”) committee meetings for student assistance, drug and alcohol counseling and coordinating with fellow counselors.
Working with juniors and seniors involves helping them to understand the wide range of opportunities to pursue after graduation. NW doesn’t ‘push” an option upon any student but wants them to know how to make choices and pursue alternatives among (alphabetically): college, gap year, internship, military and trades.
NW’s summer vacation doesn’t start until she has finished year-end reports about each student, sent letters to families whose student(s) should attend summer school to pass a required course and organized course selection paperwork for the next school year. Completing year-end counselor tasks typically leaves about six weeks of total free time before NW and her fellow counselors return to duty several days ahead of the teachers, for final preparations to commence the next school year.
SOME CHALLENGES FOR SCHOOL COUNSELORS
Without listing school counselor challenges in order of importance – because any difficulty for a child is important to understand and help resolve – the following are examples:
- Getting to know in some degree of depth all your assigned students who are evolving in maturity as they proceed from sometimes anxious freshmen in a new school toward graduation and their unknown paths ahead.
- Determining the potential seriousness of a student’s problem, which may range from an exam result to fear of going home or being bullied at school. Then considering the options to be summoned if needed: either the teacher involved or an administrator or school psychologist or school “resource officer” (police assigned to the school).
- Being always sensitive to the perspectives of students of a different gender or ethnicity or cultural background.
- Working with students with addiction problems, knowing the odds of total recovery are not favorable but trying to help each student proceed toward a successful outcome.
- Trying to work with parents who are unresponsive.
CAREER SATISFACTION
While NW humbly hopes she is making a positive difference in the life of each student she counsels, she especially appreciates receiving words of gratitude often volunteered by students around their graduation days. Words like a simple phrase, “Thank you!” and “I couldn’t have done it without you” echo for a long time within NW.
As a ‘person of color’ herself, NW is glad to be the focus of some students who are occasionally heard to say, “You’re not my counselor but I’m happy to see a grownup here who looks like me.”
