Appreciate School Counselors

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Please join us to appreciate and celebrate our school counselors during National School Counseling Week, February 4-8, 2013.

KPBSD employs 17 certified school counselors who serve approximately 4,100 middle and high school students. KPBSD counselors recently began implementing an electronic Personal Learning and Career Plan that will be available in the student, parent, and teacher portals of PowerSchool to provide students with purposeful career guidance in order to make informed choices about their future.

John O'Brien, the KPBSD director of secondary education said, "It is a pleasure to recognize the professionalism and critical work of our school counselors.  Our students are well served by this group of dedicated professionals who ensure that their academic, social-emotional, and future college and career planning needs are met."

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KPBSD counselors were asked, What is most meaningful to you regarding your work as a school counselor? Their responses:

  • "The students! Working with teens and helping them navigate the ups and downs of life as well as planning for their future …" - Erin Neisinger
  • "Being a school counselor is the best job! We get to work with high school students for all four years and watch them grow, mature and move on with their lives." - Lin Hampson
  • "I love being able to see a student meet a goal they set and worked hard to meet, knowing I was able to play a small part in encouraging them along the way!" - Laura Fourtner

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  • "Academic and career coaching middle school students is the most meaningful to me as a school counselor. Seeing them explore jobs and beginning to value their classes and grades is so great." - Karen Ruebsamen
  • "I most enjoy seeing graduates who have successfully applied their KPBSD learning and experiences and who are thriving as young adults." - Paul Story
  • "Helping students navigate the developmental journey from middle school through graduation is a constant inspiration for school counselors. Running into those students post-graduation-whether they are working at the coffee shop, an oil platform, or returning from college for a visit-allows us to confirm that the journey continues!" - Sara Moore20130201_HL_School_Counselors_4

Dr. Steve Atwater, KPBSD superintendent said, "I am pleased that our counselors are playing such an important role in the development and facilitation of career pathways for our high school students. This exposure to applied learning through our pathways is invaluable for our students."

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National School Counseling Week, sponsored by the American School Counselor Association (ASCA), is celebrated February 4-8, 2013, to focus public attention on the unique contribution of professional school counselors within United States school systems and how students are different as a result of what school counselors do. National School Counseling Week highlights the tremendous impact school counselors can have in helping students achieve school success and plan for a career.

Professional school counselors are certified, experienced, educators with a master's degree in guidance and counseling. The combination of their training and experience makes them an integral part of the total educational program.

School counselors are given responsibility for being actively engaged in helping students examine their abilities, strengths, interests and talents; for working in a partnership with parents as they encounter the challenges of raising children in today's world; for focusing on positive ways to enhance students' social, personal, educational and career development; and working with teachers and other educators to provide an educational system where students can realize their potential and set healthy, realistic and optimistic aspirations for themselves.

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"School counselors work with all students to remove barriers to learning by addressing students' academic concerns, personal, social skills, and career awareness in post-secondary options," said Kwok-Sze Wong, EdD, ASCA executive director. "Comprehensive school counseling programs help to increase student achievement and provide a much-needed resource for students, parents, teachers and administrators. School counselors are integral to student success."

Please take time to recall a school counselor from your past, and offer a few words of appreciation to thank a KPBSD school counselor for their work with our students.

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