President's Letter: Planning and Promoting Our Programs

“So, wait, what do you do all day as a school counselor?” I have heard this question many times throughout my career. As one who tries to always assume positive intent, I imagine that this question is coming from a place of general curiosity. Unless school counseling programs are promoted, other stakeholders may ask that of us because they genuinely want to know the answer. Our field has changed over the years and some folks may not have a firm idea of what our role is in schools. This is where we can come in and promote our programs so that the impact of our work is known. Plus, I thoroughly enjoy my career and I love to talk with anyone who is interested about the different activities, lessons, events, etc. we are doing as a department.

Every summer right before school starts, the department I work within gathers at one of our homes to look at our program. This is where we discuss goals and plan the activities that can help us achieve them. One of the important steps we take during this time is to put everything on the calendar: advisory council meetings, classroom lessons, grade-alike seminars, and so on. In doing so, we have already framed out the ways in which we hope to impact the school, and this in turn allows us to promote our program through sharing out of what we accomplish at the end of each year.

This year, I blocked out time in my calendar to create bulletin boards. The area that I use is in a main part of the school that most people will walk by each day; thus, the bulletin boards promote our program. As a high school counselor, I can find this task daunting but I enjoy the results. In November, I created the pictured bulletin board based on some growth mindset boards I found during a Pinterest search. As I was busy stapling letters to the cork board, a 10th-grade student walked by and commented on how helpful the information was to her. This prompted us to have a conversation focused on growth mindset that otherwise might not have happened so naturally.

I encourage you to share any way you are promoting your own program to our Facebook page. February 5-9 is National School Counseling Week 2018, “Helping Students Reach for the Stars.” This is a wonderful time to focus on promoting your program. Lots of resources are available on the ASCA site to help you plan. In the meantime, I hope you all have a relaxing and enjoyable winter break.
 
Contact Cairsten Keese, VTSCA president, at cairstenkeese@gmail.com.