President's Letter: With Compassion, Passion Grows

Welcome to 2020, Guam Association of School Counselors! We are compassionate school counselors who try to practice beneficence and non-maleficence in our school counseling profession. We thrive only when we are one as a community of passionate school counselors who strive to work hard despite challenges. In this new year, why not choose a resolution that facilitates professional and personal growth? Choose to be compassionate with yourself and our stakeholders and passion will grow in the process. Since resolutions usually are out of the door by February, let’s try to keep it SMART:

S – Sustain your passion in the school counseling profession or start your passion’s growth. Growing passion entails listening to our students and seeing the need to go to their classrooms and facilitate classes that will remove barriers for their success in academics, social/emotional development, and college and career readiness. It may mean connecting with outside agencies for support and resources and reaching out to stakeholders – teachers, parents, administrators – to share what school counseling is about.

M – Membership matters! I encourage you to be part of a community of school counselors by joining GASC and ASCA. Join us to continue the journey of implementing a comprehensive school counseling program based on the ASCA National Model 4^th edition and use ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors standards in direct or indirect services such as lesson planning, classroom lessons and individual and group counseling.

A – Awareness of current trends in school counseling will help you gain confidence in designing and implementing a comprehensive school counseling program. As you implement the program, be aware that you can apply for GASC awards for school counselor programs: School Counselor of the Year and Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP). In line with ASCA’s guidelines for school counselor leaders, please volunteer for a leadership position after obtaining appropriate credentials to move our profession forward with beneficence and non-maleficence.

R – Renew your commitment to be a school counselor.  I encourage you to renew membership in GASC on-island or online and ASCA online. Re-energize yourself to serve your students, whether 250 or 800. Register for the ASCA 2020 Conference in Seattle, Washington. It is important to continue to rejuvenate and learn about our profession, learn how to build better human beings and be among professionals who compassionately understand the stressors we encounter daily.

T – Training matters! Remember to register for free ASCA webinars:

• Social-emotional learning
• Solution-Focused Techniques for School Counselors
• Growth Mindset Small Groups
• Community Resiliency Model Benefits. 

Through ASCA U, the Anxiety and Stress Management Specialist is free to all who attended the GASC conference in March 2019, and the School Counseling Leadership Specialist is also free for GASC Board directors. Avail yourself of the various resources on the ASCA scene and ASCA website. Join activities such as National School Counseling Week 2020, GASC2021, trainings, echo sessions, and general membership meetings organized by GASC.

Be ready to thrive as a community of compassionate school counselors whose passion grows while we help our students become the best versions of themselves. In the process of serving our students and stakeholders, may we never forget that even if we live on an island in the Pacific, we have 20,000 strong school counseling professionals around the world.

Let’s continue to build our school counseling profession and advocate to help build better humans who are compassionate and allow passion to grow! Sustain SMART, and see just how much we’ll grow by 2020 and beyond.

Contact Estela L. Calata, GASC president, at elcalata@yahoo.com.