President's Letter: Focusing on Students' Futures

Greetings, LSSSCA family. It’s hard to believe that this school year is moving by so quickly. But it is also amazing to see how our students are learning and growing as the school year progresses. As school counselors, each of you makes an incredible difference in the lives of students through your efforts to prepare them to reach their long-term goals of college-level studies, starting a fulfilling career, or serving in the military. In this issue, we look at the nuts and bolts of helping students with exploring and navigating through preparing for postsecondary success.

Establishing a school environment that gets students excited about their future plans starts early and includes many moving parts. Elementary and middle school counselors play a vital role in broadening students’ capacity to dream big, unlocking students’ limitless potential, and providing exposure to a vast number of college and career options. For all their work providing classroom lessons, career fairs, college spirit activities and more, we thank elementary and middle school counselors for building the foundation for college, career and military readiness.

In any given district across our state, you’ll find extraordinary high school counselors helping students select courses that will prepare them to gain admission to their preferred college or career, optimize their performance on SAT and ACT exams, and tackle the details of obtaining financial aid. School counselors also may be called upon to help future NCAA athletes decipher eligibility requirements. As I talk with people from different parts of the state, I always enjoy hearing high school counselors describe the innovative approaches they take to help students fine-tune their postsecondary plans and assist students with overcoming barriers that might impede students from having a successful future.

In closing, thank you all for your continued support of all students, from pre-kindergarten kids who are entering the school setting for the first time to seniors who are itching to graduate and get closer to their postsecondary dreams. The work you do, school counselors, makes a huge difference for our students and their families. Thank you again for your hard work and dedication!

Dana Jackson, Ed.D., is the president of the Lone Star State School Counselor Association for 2023–2024. She is the Associate Superintendent of Student Support Services in Grand Prairie ISD.