President's Letter: Renewal in the New School Year

Welcome to the start of the new school year! I hope that your summer offered you the refreshment you needed to now be ready to tackle the challenges of a new academic year. As for the Ohio School Counselor Association, summer has been busy. Four members of the executive board (myself included) participated in the American School Counselor Association Leadership Development Institute and Delegate Assembly in Denver, Colo. This event is held annually prior to the national conference. It provides the leadership from the nation’s state associations with practical information on various topics to help state leaders best manage their state school counselor associations. It also provides us opportunities to network with leaders from other states and allows leaders input into ways that ASCA can best support us as a state association. This event, combined with the conference, was a great experience for us as leaders, and we look forward to using the information we learned.

Speaking of the ASCA National Conference, I would be remiss if I did not talk about the extreme pride I felt at the ASCA RAMP recognition dinner. This year, Ohio had two schools that received RAMP status. Congratulations to Knox County Career Center and Austintown Elementary School! Achieving this national recognition on your school counseling program is no easy task and you should be proud of your accomplishment!

As for the year ahead, if you haven’t heard already, we are thrilled about this year’s All Ohio Counselors Conference (AOCC) because we will be in a new venue. This decision was not made hastily, and with the amount of overcrowding in recent years, a venue change has been a long time coming. This year’s AOCC will be at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus. This newly renovated venue offers more space and exciting opportunities as the flagship conference for School Counseling in Ohio. Please mark your calendars for this year’s AOCC: November 8-10, 2017.

Every fall, we hold elections for positions on our board of directors. I am often asked how to become involved with the OSCA board. If you don’t think that you’re ready to dive into a leadership position, we also have a great emerging leader program. It’s a wonderful way to be introduced to the workings of the OSCA board while learning where you can best contribute to our leadership team. Please visit our website (http://www.ohioschoolcounselor.org/) for more information on both the upcoming elections and the emerging leader program.

The beginning of the school year is always a little hectic and shaking off the cobwebs and the routine of summer break it is sometimes difficult. As always, please make sure you are taking care of yourself and that you’re putting your students best interests forward. I wish you all the best of luck and a successful school year!

Contact Evan W. Jackson, LSC, LPC, OSCA president, at evanjackson@ohioschoolcounselor.org.