President's Letter: At the Core of Our Communities

While attending the ASCA Delegate Assembly and Leadership Development Institute this summer in Denver, we were told that ASCA will be offering new services to state associations to help us in our efforts to reach members in ways that are effective and most helpful to their work. One of these services is to produce a newsletter for our members, with our participation. We are grateful to ASCA for these additional resources and opportunities to collaborate with other state contributors to provide you with the most current, relevant, and accurate information. The theme of this edition, “Beyond Your Building: School Counselors in the Community,” could not be more timely for our state.

It has been said that Montana is a “very large small town,” meaning that even though we are a large state when measured by square miles, there is something very tight-knit about our communities and networks of people throughout the state. People know each other, support each other in tough times, and celebrate one another’s accomplishments. This was very apparent to me this past month or two as we battled the fires in many communities and witnessed and felt much loss as a result of those devastating fires. What happened in one town in Montana was felt by ALL of us.

I am certain that many of you, as school counselors, have been leading the way to support families that have lost property and have faced discouragement because of those losses. In many cases, entire towns have been faced with disaster and destruction. You are on the front lines of helping these families and communities rebuild not only financially, but restoring a sense of hope. As long as there are people willing to step up and show they care, there will be hope. People just need to know they are not alone. We have a unique opportunity to reach our communities through our schools. Thank you for all you are doing for your schools and communities! And please, if there is anything that MSCA can do to help you in your rebuilding efforts, let us know.

We have some excellent opportunities for you to receive professional development at the upcoming MEA-MFT conference in Missoula. Visit the MSCA website for updates on what is happening in our state and a link to register! www.mtschoolcounselor.org. We’d love to see you all at our membership meeting luncheon on Thursday, October 19.

We are already planning for the spring conference, and for the first time, we will be meeting somewhere other than Bozeman. We have listened to your feedback and understand that we really have outgrown the space available at the Bozeman Holiday Inn. The good news is that they are remodeling and we may be able to go back there in 2020. For your planning purposes, know that the 2018 Spring Conference will be in Helena and the 2019 conference will be in Billings.

Look for these newsletters in December, February and April. We will also be producing an additional newsletter in November, complete with executive board annual reports.

Thank you for all you do for your schools and communities!

Contact Renee’ Schoening, MSCA president, at reneeschoeningmsca@gmail.com.