President's Letter: Beyond Your Building and Borders

School counselors are expected to reach not just beyond our building walls, but beyond our nation’s borders as we are challenged to help create global citizens of tomorrow. We are often seen as visionaries who are exemplary in setting examples for communities and global-minded thinking. School counselors are gifted at helping students understand our concern for human rights, and having respect for other cultures while utilizing creativity and critical thinking skills. High school graduates will step into a world vastly different from the one in which we emerged.

In Thomas Friedman’s 2005 bestselling book, The World Is Flat, he taught us that the world’s playing field was being leveled largely due to rapid technology changes. Specifically, we have seen a leveling of global economies because technology can allow people to simultaneously work around the clock, all around the world. Our classrooms have teachers who are asked to discuss local, national and international issues and events with students across core subjects. In turn, school counselors need to be poised to help students learn to work for international companies, collaborate with people from all over the world and to be prepared to tackle global problems. School counselors must be knowledgeable about our world.

In many communities, school counselors hear the common catchphrase, “giving back to the community” because we are known to volunteer and help young people in need each and every day. As we see injustice, address a crisis, or help students dealing with loss, it’s the school counseling experience and training that have lasting impacts in communities, both big and small. School counselors will continue to operate with simple acts of kindness inside our school walls, some stepping up to leading large volunteer organizations that address specific needs of communities. School counselors stand poised to direct students toward global citizenship. School counseling beyond our buildings reminds us to keep perspective as we try to give our students the tools and opportunities needed for success, encouraging them to stay curious and innovative in a changing world.

Contact Michelle K. Taylor, Ed.D., LPC, OSCA president, at mtaylor@adairschools.org.