President's Letter: Advisory Council Shows Partnership in Action

This edition of our newsletter, “Beyond Your Building: Counselors in the Community,” provides resources on community mental health engagement, working with military-connected youth, community partnerships, and how the community can affect ethics in your work. Many of our school districts and schools have established community partnerships, but how do we as counselors utilize these resources? Take a moment and think about the community in which your school resides. What resources are available? Now look at your comprehensive school counseling program and examine what resources are missing. Can your community assist in filling these gaps?
 
A strong advisory council can help school counseling programs build the bridge to those in the surrounding community. The advisory council is a key element in a comprehensive school counseling program and can provide invaluable insight to the work that we do as counselors. The council provides the perfect platform to invite community members to become active in the school counseling program because, in the end, a stronger community can help build a stronger school.
 
One event that demonstrates using the school counseling advisory council in conjunction with multiple community businesses and civic organizations is the FAFSA dinner at St. Albans High School last fall. During the 2017 academic year, the counselors at St. Albans were working toward increasing the FAFSA completion rate for the graduating class as a combined annual goal. Discussion on the topic occurred during an advisory council meeting and one of the community liaisons said, “If you feed them, they will come.” This set the wheels in motion for the advisory council and counseling department to plan an evening where seniors and their parents could get a free dinner followed by a financial aid workshop presented by the state’s Higher Education Policy Commissions.
 
During the planning stages, council members took the lead in finding business in the community to assist in donating the food for the event. In the end, the-out-of-pocket expenses for the Counseling Center were limited to only the drinks and napkins. The dedicated members of the community, five different businesses in total, provided all of the necessary food for a full spaghetti dinner, salad, and bread. In addition, three local churches volunteered to serve dinner on the night of the event.
 
I share this story to demonstrate the power of connection to our community. The St. Albans High School counselors relied heavily on our partners in the community to make this event a reality for our students. Alone, this would have been a difficult task for the counseling team; however, through the power of collaboration, it was an event to remember. Most important, we saw a 9% increase in the St. Albans High School FAFSA completion rate for that year, the first time in the last five years that the completion rate went above 60%.  
 
Contact Richard Tench, WVSCA president, at Rtench@mail.kana.k12.wv.us.