OSCA Honors Excellence

Advocates for School Counselors

OSCA recognized State of Oregon Representative Jeff Reardon (District 48 – Happy Valley) and Legislative Assistant Cris Cloyd at the OSCA Conference for their service to Oregon school counselors.
 
Representative Reardon attended the third White House Convening on Strengthening School Counseling and College Advising at the University of North Florida in November 2015. He became more aware of school counselors’ role in helping students and communicated his commitment to sponsor legislation that would benefit our profession to OSCA’s leadership.
 
Representative Reardon and Legislative Assistant Cloyd then worked with Dr. Gene Eakin, OSCA Advocacy chair, and several school counselors to craft four bills that Jeff sponsored with the House Education Committee. Primary among these were bills that would have required school administrators to take coursework on comprehensive school counseling programs and the behavioral and mental health needs of children and adolescents. Another would have provided $250,000 to fund the rollout of the new Oregon Framework for Comprehensive School Counseling.
 
Although none of these bills were passed by the House Education Committee to the Ways and Means Committee, this was the first time in years that a legislator has sponsored legislation on behalf of the school counseling profession. Representative Reardon has indicated he will work with OSCA and sponsor legislation in the 2019 session.
The OSCA Board is deeply grateful for the work of Representative Reardon and Cris Cloyd and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them as we advance legislation in the next session that benefits our work with our students. 

Oregon School Counselor of the Year

By Holly Altiero, OSCA Past President
 
Congratulations to Roberto Aguilar from Milwaukie High School, our 2017 school counselor of the year. Roberto is an amazing student and overall school counseling advocate. He and his counseling team at MHS write a detailed letter each year to their district superintendent outlining the needs and struggles of the counseling department and student population. Through this persistent advocacy, MHS has been given additional .5 FTE the past four years with aspirations of increasing FTE to meet ASCA’s 1:250 student to counselor ratio.

Roberto also has made it a priority to address the achievement gap at MHS since discovering a roughly 29 percent difference between the graduation rates of Latino and Caucasian students. He spearheaded implementation of the ECMC Scholars program at MHS that identifies and helps expose first generation college students to college visits, individual support with college applications and much more. To gain Latino parent involvement, he is a representative at the Padres Latino Mustangs group. Each month he presents information to parents in this group on topics such as how to earn a credit, graduation requirements and how to calculate a GPA. Thanks to his efforts, Milwaukie High School Has gone from a 29 percent achievement gap in 2008/2009 to a one percent gap during the 2016/2017 school year!

We are so very proud of all of your hard work and advocacy, Roberto! Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do for your students and for our profession. 

First Annual OSCIES

By Holly Altiero, OSCA Past President

To mark the celebration of OSCA’s 50th Anniversary, this year we held the First Annual OSCIES and recognized the amazing work done by school counselors as nominated by their peers.
 
Award 1: Advocacy Machine - Niky Poole, Chemwa Indian School
This award goes to a counselor who lives and breathes advocacy. They speak for our profession, for their students and for those who cannot speak for themselves. Niky works tirelessly to advocate for her unique student population, both within Chemawa Indian School and in the outside community. Chemawa houses and educates high school students from more than 40 different tribes, and these students often battle trauma, addiction, and academic difficulties. To meet the needs of all of her students, Niky creates unique programs including outdoor recreational education, sexual abuse support groups, music therapy, and talent expositions. Niky's advocacy and support have made the difference for hundreds of the most at-risk students.
 
Award 2: Data Bee - Ben Hildner, Scott Elementary
This award goes to the counselor who is using data efficiently to help inform their practice and make positive changes for their school and district. Ben frequently leads in district meeting trainings on data. He demonstrates data that he collects at his own school and how it has been beneficial to support his role within the school and his students so other counselors can increase their own use of data driven programs.
 
Award 3: Leadership Superstar - Michelle Grush, Scenic Middle School
This award goes to a counselor who is not afraid to take the lead and is actively involved in school leadership that benefits students, staff and school culture. In her 15 years as the solo counselor at Scenic Middle School, Michelle has promoted positive school culture. She advises Natural Helpers, which builds leadership among young students through service work. She also has facilitated the honor society and operates a peer mentoring program for at-risk students. She organizes holiday food baskets and brings students together promoting a positive school culture through Red Ribbon Week assemblies and activities, a Kindness Campaign across campus, weekly lessons promoting positive choice making, and being an upstander instead of a bystander.
 
Award 4: Community Builder Extraordinaire - Brooke Nova, Hillsboro High School
This award goes to a counselor who connects students and staff to available community partnerships and opportunities. Brooke represents all students and counselors on a district level to assure Hillsboro students are aware, eligible, and prepared for entering college or a profession after graduating from HSD. She has applied for countless grants and has given hundreds if not thousands of students opportunities they wouldn't have had before her efforts. She seeks to support Hillsboro students by connecting them with jobs, internships, and work experience in the Hillsboro community. She is providing those students with the exact experience they need to enter the work force in the upcoming years.
 
Award 5: Career and College Champion - Mario Garza from Woodburn High
This award goes to a counselor who is making it their personal goal to ensure all of their students are ready to take on the world someday and explore career and college options that work for them and their families. With Mario’s support, students on Woodburn campus have earned scholarships and grants totaling more than $17 million over the last three years.