What College and Career Readiness Means to Me

I hope you had a very happy National School Counseling Week. The purpose of the week is to focus public attention on the contributions of school counselors across the country. School counselors face a multitude of tasks each day. Sometimes we don’t get a verbal thank you or praise, but our true joy comes from that inner feeling of knowing we help children every day. If I wrote an article about the many tasks of school counselors, you might be reading for a very long time. Instead of focusing on how busy we are, I want to focus on how lucky we are. We get to be an integral part of our students’ lives every day. We get to be the one to say good morning to the student who doesn’t have anyone at home awake when they leave for school. We get to be the one that so many students share their good news with each day. We get to be the one to encourage the student to finish school when no one in their own family finished school. We get to be the one to tell a student that they’ve been accepted into a program, received a scholarship, scored high enough on that dreaded test to get into that dual enrollment class they’ve been wanting, are eligible for free money for college and so much more.

One of the most important things to me, as a school counselor, is that I get to be the one to help assist students in figuring out what they want to be when they “grow up.” And not just what they want to be, but if they have the academic, physical and emotional ability to do that job. I get to be the one who helps them assess their personal interests and how that relates to careers in order for them to figure out all the types of jobs they could do. Working with the student who is a very nurturing, caring person to figure out that they can be successful as a teacher, counselor, social worker or therapist is a positive to me. Working with a student who is very smart, likes data and research but doesn’t enjoy working with the public to figure out that they can be successful as a scientist, researcher or technician is a positive to me.  Having a student come back to you several years after graduation and tell you that they love their job and that it was you who helped them realize they could do it is wonderful! The ability to help others be college and career ready is one of the best parts of a school counselor’s job. That’s something that I won’t ever take for granted.

What does college and career readiness mean to me? It means using the skills that I have been given to help others figure out what career will bring them joy, just as counseling brings me joy every day.

Also, don’t forget about the ALSCA’s annual National School Counseling Week Poster and Essay Contest!  All mailed submissions MUST be postmarked by February 16, 2018. All electronic submissions MUST be uploaded by February 20, 2018.  State-level winners will be announced in April 2018. Please see the ALSCA website for more detailed information.

Lisa Butler, EDS, LPCS, NCC, is ALSCA historian. Contact her at lbutler@blountboe.net