February 2024 - It is School Counseling Week, and we are wanting to send a big THANK YOU to all of our school counselors! School Counseling is a huge part of helping a student in their social and emotional development both inside and outside of the classroom, and our counselors at GMSD have a huge impact on our community and school culture.
Christy Law is GMSD’s Counseling Coordinator and District Social Worker, and she first began her journey as a social worker by simply knowing that she wanted to be able to help people. As she continued to pursue her field, she was able to intern as a school social worker, and that’s when she knew that she wanted to continue working in education. Ms. Law says, “I knew when I first started as an intern at a middle school that I wanted to stay in the education field. I absolutely loved the school setting. School social work was a new thing at that time, but the need was so great.”
During her time in the education field, Ms. Law has continued working to ensure that the need for school counselors is met, particularly here at GMSD. School counselors are critical in helping each child to grow and express themselves, so their job has a wide range of responsibilities.
One of Forest Hill Elementary’s School Counselors, Skylar Workman, can often be seen planning and running the pep rallies at FHES. Part of a school counselors’ social and emotional program is to help engage and grow each students’ social and emotional reach. Counselors try to know each of their students and work to foster a relationship with them all. As Ms. Law puts it, “Counselors work to build happy moments for each and every student in GMSD.”
Ms. Workman didn’t realize a future of school counseling was in store for her until a conversation with a neighbor on a weekend home from college piqued her interest. Though one of the less recognized aspects of the position, she loves “to celebrate milestones and growth throughout the school year.” Workman also loves hearing from graduated students and seeing the impact counselors are able to make on each individual student.
For Mr. Pritchett at Farmington, he would agree with Ms. Workman. He loves seeing his students grow, and he says, “I am fortunate enough to have been in this career for a long time, and I have the joy of seeing students come back as adults. Being able to see how they have grown is always such a highlight for me. Knowing that the work we do here has an impact on them for years to come.”
For Ms. Brianna Pickard, the Houston Middle School Counselor, she always knew she wanted to pursue a career in counseling. She remembers her school counselor providing her with a safe haven even in early elementary school, which helped steer her towards working in a school setting. Ms. Pickard underscores the importance of providing a comfortable space for her own students, because “life's curveballs can totally mess with our learning journey.” She loves seeing students grow and succeed even through tough times.
School Counseling is a huge team effort, and all of our counselors work together to ensure that each and every student is met right where they need to be. Ethan Langston at Riverdale shares, “We develop meaningful connections with our students so we can better support them when they come to talk about other issues in their life.”
Mr. Langston also said, “Helping students and families find their strength to persevere through the challenges of life is by far the most rewarding part of my role as a school counselor.” School Counseling is such a huge part of child development, and we are so incredibly thankful for our counselors in GMSD.
We want to share some of the best resources that are available to families to further understand all the aspects of counseling and what school counselors do to help each and every child as they grow. To learn more about the role of a School Counselor, click here. Read more about School Counseling overall here.
As we celebrate National School Counseling week, we want to give a big thank you to our GMSD School Counselors and School Counselors everywhere! If you see your School Counselors in the hall, be sure to thank them for all of the “happy moments” that they work so hard to create!