President’s Letter: Challenge for the Year

I welcome everyone to another great year and exciting time to be a school counselor. Our profession is recognized and needed more today than ever before. It is our job to help sketch the path to student success and in order to do this, we need the tools to be successful. I challenge you to attend a school counselor association conference this year. This is a great professional development opportunity. Our conference will allow you to sharpen your tools and to add to your toolbox. It is a great chance to collaborate with your peeps and meet new ones, along with renewing your ethics.

Whatever level you are at in your career, a school counseling conference is definitely the correct decision. Come and join us for the 2019 Alaska School Counselor Association (AkSCA) Annual Conference, Wednesday, November 13 through Saturday, November 16 at the Anchorage Downtown Marriott. If you have any questions or are interested in presenting, please contact Tracy Presley at AkSCA.executivedirector@gmail.com. Up-to-date information will be posted at www.alaskaschoolcounselor.org.

Also, do not miss the fun at the 2020 American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Conference, June 27-30, 2020, in Seattle, Wash. We are hoping to have a great turnout of Alaska school counselors for this event – make sure you are one of them. After all, Seattle is in our backyard. (See a few photos from the 2019 ASCA Conference below.)

Now is the time to speak with your administrator and district about attending one or both of these conferences. If your district has not already done so, have them start including in their grants, “attend the school counselor association conference for training.” This wording fits into most grants and is another way to receive conference funding.

Remember, the challenge is to attend a school counselor association conference within the 2019-2020 year. If you already do this every year, I challenge you – and everyone – to invite/bring someone who did not attend last year. See you soon and let the FUN high-quality professional development begin!

Your newest peep,

Natalie Kant, AkSCA President, nkant@kpbsd.k12.ak.us

P.S. A special thank-you and shout-out to past presidents Gianna Giusti and Leslie Fazio for all their consistent hard work and dedication to our association. They have improved the foundations of the Alaska School Counselors Association. These are great women to work with. Awesome job Ladies!


Maria Riedel, our president elect, and Sammie Johnson, AkSCA member, attended the national conference for the first time.


Natalie Kant, AkSCA president, Gianna G. McCune, past-president, and Sammie Johnson enjoyed the welcome reception.