What is it like being a school counselor? What all does one do as a school counselor? It’s more than students or others may think. Some may think it’s just about consulting with students when they have a concern or problem but there’s much more behind the scenes that school counselors do throughout the school year for their students.
A school counselor is an adult who is a highly educated, professionally certified individual who helps students succeed in school and here at the secondary level with students plan their career. But they take on other responsibilities for example schedule changes, suicide prevention, individual counseling, referrals for outside services, and occasionally providing classroom lesson. They work with other adults involved in the student’s success such as teachers, administrators, and parents to help students with their academic performance or any other concerns.
Here at Kenwood High School there are many school counselors assisting individuals. Here at Kenwood, our school counselors are Ms. Keating, Mrs. Kramer, Mr. Hopkins, Mrs. Barton, Mrs. Holland, Ms. Reed, and Ms. Kovacs. They’re located right next to the main office. Our counselors work year round to make sure students are on track in high school in order to be set for the future.
One of the counselors is Ms. Reed who has been at Kenwood High for two years now. She was previously a middle school science teacher. Ms. Reed earned her Masters in teaching and a certification in earth space and science. While working as a middle school science teacher, Ms. Reed came to a realization, “I realized how much I enjoy talking with the students about their lives and I realized that I would feel more satisfied in a job where I could work with the students in a more personal way, so I went back to school to become a School Counselor.” While she enjoyed being a science teacher, she found out what she loved more was providing help to students.
High school counselors job duties are different than younger grades due to the transition at graduation “At the high school level, we have a big focus on academics which means grades and making sure students earn credits towards graduation. There is more of a focus on academics at the high school level compared to middle or elementary school,” shares Reed. High school counselors get the opportunity to watch students grow from 9th thru 12th grade as they start planning a path to pursue their dreams after gradation.
Here at Kenwood there is a school counseling schedule with each month being dedicated to certain tasks. In the month of September counselors do senior credit checks, EDLP enrollments, schedule corrections, new entrants, and senior meanings. Going into the month of October there are schedule corrections, senior meetings, senior and junior classroom visits, scheduling college visits, and checking juniors’ credits. November to December there are meetings, freshman classroom visits, preparing for registrations, virtual financial aid, and submitting data for quarter one. While there is information for following months there is stuff on going that happens all throughout the school year.
On going things that happen during the school year at Kenwood are Crisis meetings with students, lunch duty every day, registering students for EDLP, IEP meetings, 504 meetings, SST meetings, educational option meetings, reinstatement meetings, project graduation monthly, attendance meetings monthly, and Behavioral Threat Assessment Team meetings. School counselors have to manage multitasking all throughout the school year to bring support to students, students’ families, and staff members.
As students get ready to transition out of high school, school counselors also help students with their job, college, and scholarship applications. Outside of the academic guidance they provide to students, they are also available to help students with problems and conflicts about family, friends, environment, or with mental health. Being able to talk to counselors about your emotions could allow them to find ways to assist you with whatever problem you might be facing in order to keep students striving.
School counselors manage so much for schools so take the time to appreciate school counselors all year long as they actively play a major role in school communities.
